The Inspector General of Police, acting IGP Usman Baba, has decried the state of police barracks across the country, stating that they were dilapidated and needed urgent attention.
Baba, who stated this when a delegation from the Police Trust Fund (PTF) visited him at the Force Headquarters Abuja, said some of the buildings in police barracks across the country needed rehabilitation, while others needed total demolition and rebuilding.
He urged the Police Trust Fund to assist the Force in the area of housing challenges, noting that it was important that police men were kept together in barracks for effective mobilisation.
The Police boss also urged the Trust Fund to assist the police in training and provision of equipment for better policing jobs.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Secretary of the Fund, Alhaji Aliyu Sokoto, said the Fund was ready to assist the police management in achieving its vision.
He further said Nigerians would begin to fill the impact of the Police Fund after the signing of the N74 billion 2021 budget currently before the National Assembly.
The secretary, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, pledged to assist the police in purchase of equipment, welfare challenge and other areas.
The Police Trust Fund was set up to cater for police needs such as training, overall improvement of personnel of the Nigeria Police Force in the discharge of their duties, purchase of equipment, machineries and books and the construction of police stations and living facilities for the Nigeria Police Force.
The Trust Fund covers all personnel of the Nigeria Police Force including its auxiliary staff in Nigeria and abroad and the Trust Fund is to operate for a period of six years from the commencement of the Act, after which it would cease to exist unless extended for any further period by an Act of the National Assembly.
