Policemen,
who were rendered homeless on Sunday, after the collapse of the Mobile Police
Highway Barracks building, Police College, Ikeja, Lagos, have expressed anger for
being forced to spend the night outside in the cold with their wives and
children.
A
police sergeant, who lived in the collapsed, said he regretted being a
policeman.
The tragedy was said to have struck on Sunday when the toilets and
stairway of wing D of the block collapsed at about 4.00 am.
A
sergeant, identified simply as Danjuma and a visitor, were bathing, when
building crumpled like pack of cards.
Eye
witnesses said that the visitor went to take his bath, in preparation to travel
that fateful morning. Danjuma and the visitor died.
When
the officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), got to
the scene, they viewed part of the building was still standing and voted it was
dangerous. The part still standing was pulled down and occupants were forced
out.
New
Telegraph gathered that the occupants of the barracks had been warned several
times to vacate the distressed two-storey building by the police authorities,
but they declined on the grounds that they didn’t have the means to relocate.
The
sergeant, who regretted being a policeman, said he didn’t want his name
mentioned. He told our correspondent that it was painful celebrating Christmas out
in the cold.
His
words: “I regret being a policeman! My family and I slept inside in the cold
after the collapsed of the building. The police authority didn’t provide any accommodation
for majority of us. We are homeless! I won’t support any of my kids to enlist
into the Nigeria Police Force. Those of us living in the barracks are just like
a refugee in our father’s land. In developed countries, police officers are
treated with dignity and respect. But the reverse is the case in Nigeria.”
The
sergeant added: “I expected the police authority to provide better
accommodation for policemen before recruitment. Now, if 10, 000 applicants, who
were recruited into the police force, were to be posted to Lagos, there
wouldn’t be any barracks for them to live. Most of the barracks are in
dilapidated state.”
Another
policeman, who identified himself as Joshask, said he had been dehumanized for
sleeping outside after serving the Nigeria for 15 years.
He
said: “After the building was pulled down, some of us didn’t have any alternative
place to hide our heads. Others, who have families outside the barracks, went
to them. I expected the police authority to provide us temporary accommodation.
But nothing was done for us. We’ve been turned to destitute.”
When
our correspondent visited the scene on Monday, some residents were still
salvaging their properties.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, was said
to have order the demolition of other distress building in the barracks. The
other two blocks to be vacated, located adjacent the collapsed building, are
blocks V and U.
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