Wale Jagun
The Lagos State Government has initiated a partnership with the Nigeria Police Force to remodel and regenerate 25 barracks belonging to the Nigeria Police Force across Lagos State.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka disclosed this on Wednesday during a press conference held at Nigeria Police Command, Ikeja, Lagos.
Mrs. Benson-Awoyinka averred that the officials of the Nigeria Police Force across the nation and their families deserve better habitation and befitting model infrastructure amenities at the barracks to enhance their service delivery.
She informed that the State Government will facilitate all planning works and building approvals needed for the realisation of the projects and will also make sure that buildings are constructed to acceptable standards.
The initiation of the regeneration plans, according to Benson-Awoyinka, shows that both the federal and the State Government takes the welfare of the security operatives seriously. She said, “The governments are passionate about the welfare of the force’s members, hence the need to regenerate these barracks within Lagos State.
She appreciated the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Federal Government through the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Aikali Baba for putting heads together for this initiative of giving a facelift to Nigeria Police barracks in Lagos State.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on E-GIS and Planning Matters, Dr. Olajide Babatunde informed that the move to regenerate the barracks will help prevent building collapse, revealing that the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA had severally certified some Police Barracks in the State as unfit for habitation.
While recalling that LASBCA recently published the list of some distressed properties in the newspapers for the awareness of affected property owners before demolition, Dr. Babatunde called on inhabitants of distressed buildings in any part of the state to willingly vacate such buildings for public safety.
Speaking earlier, the Nigeria Police Force, Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, commended the proposal by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Akali Baba to modernise Police barracks in collaboration with the Lagos State Government to enhance the overall welfare of police personnel and create a conducive environment for officers to carry out their duties and responsibilities with honour and self-esteem in the State.
CSP Adejobi said that the laudable initiative by the Inspector General of Police is timely as it is fundamental to address the longstanding issue of poor and dilapidated infrastructures within facilities occupied by Police personnel as part of efforts to ensure improved working conditions for more effective and efficient service delivery.
The Force Public Relations Officer stated that the Inspector General of Police has announced plans for a series of sensitisation and relocation efforts for police personnel living in the affected barracks from Monday, 1st May – Wednesday, 31st May, 2023.
He also said that the press briefing is part of the sensitisation process with the intention of creating a transparent dialogue between not only the affected occupants with other Police personnel but to the general public, in order to avoid misinformation about the rationale behind the project.
Adejobi said that the Inspector-General of Police has issued a directive that those affected living in these Barracks be issued a One-Month notice to vacate their accommodation spaces, saying that the directive would be implemented in stages to ensure that all officially recognised and lawful residents of these affected Barracks are properly catered for.
CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi disclosed further that plans have also been concluded to foot the alternative accommodation cost of all legal residents of the affected barracks with the payment of two years’ rent when construction works in these will end.
He stated that the Inspector General of Police has provided an assurance that all officers who are on active service and living in these barracks legally, shall receive the keys to the new structure upon completing the development of the improved housing areas.
“With the successful planning of these projects, potential officers deployed to Lagos State Police Command upon completion of the buildings will be living in modernised facilities that will add value to the State’s social, economic and environmental profile of the Nigeria Police Force”, Adejobi stated.
