A major epidemic is likely in police barracks in Lagos if urgent steps are not taken to address the environmental challenges facing the residents, experts in the health sector have warned
The police barracks under review include Ikeja, Elere and Obalende which, findings by Saturday Tribune showed, are battling with environmental issues, like lack of water, dilapidated buildings, filthy environment, poor sanitation, as well as overcrowding.
Medical experts who spoke with Saturday Tribune said the recipe for the outbreak of a major health crisis is already in place and things could blow in everyone’s face if the situation persists.
According to Dr Abiola Abdul-Hakeem Olatunji of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, once any health situation is failing the three component classification of physical, biological and social, there will definitely be problems.
The community health physician, who is also an environmental engineer, said: “In environmental issues, both living things and non-living things are considered and I will look at the components in three broad classifications. First is the physical component, which is about non-living things. Second is the biological, which is about the living things, and the third is the social component, which is about culture, customs and the likes. Those are the three components to be considered, looking at environmental health.”
Dr Abiola, who is also the coordinator of the environmental health unit of the department of community health and primary care, added: “When there is a problem with any, it affects all. That is why countries like America pay a lot of attention to all of the components. They took care of all that could affect any of these and that is why when an average life expectancy is 54 in Nigeria, it is between 80 and 90 over there.
“Environmental health may basically mean environmental sanitation, but it is beyond taking care of toilet and bathroom; it now even includes giving jobs to the jobless. Air is the most important thing we need for survival, so there must be control of air pollution, followed by water, I mean potable water. After that is food hygiene, then we generate refuse which must be disposed, then sewage disposal. Another component is housing, where we must have rodent, vector control, because vectors like mosquitoes transfer organism of malaria.
“Another aspect is our thinking that when we enjoy something, others must be enjoying it too, like noise from music. If all these are not adequately controlled, they will lead to diseases.”
Looming danger
Dissecting the current state of police barracks in the state, the chairman of utility in the hospital said: “Did the construction take cognizance of air for proper ventilation. Do they have potable water? Is it well-treated? If not, they will come up with stomach pains. How nutritious is the food, because a police officer needs to be strong to do his job, and anti-bodies that help us fight diseases, come from being well fed?
“Are their refuse adequately disposed? Mosquitoes (as vector) cause elephantiasis, malaria, among others. Rodents can cause Lassa fever. Vermins like snakes are inevitable if the environment isn’t well-managed. If refuse is not adequately disposed, it can block the drainage and this could affect the buildings and ultimately having to demolish them.
“Many diseases can also come from sewage not well-managed. Polio mellitus is from feaces. Crowded rooms can cause tuberculosis. The World Health Organisation says two adults of same sex should not stay in same room. Police officers must not be exposed to noise of vehicle, because this can cause stress and depression. They need to be in a place where environmental health is taken care of. Their salary and economy must be improved as social health is also very important, because only this could end the menace of roadblock. Their promotion must be regular to happily do the job.”
Also speaking on the threats facing the policemen who are mostly junior officers, the chairman, Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN), Lagos State chapter, Mr Tunji Akintade, said there were evident water-borne diseases not only in the police barracks but also in the country as a whole.
“Water consumption in the entire country is in mess. As long as any company takes NAFDAC number, that is the end because nobody cares to find out about the effectiveness of the water.
“It is not about barracks only. If a police officer goes to the community and he is infected with water-borne disease, the community is affected.
“All our pipes pass through the drain and canals. These are the challenges we have. The government has spent a lot on police barracks, but who looks after them? A house that is supposed to accommodate three is home to 20 people,” he opined.
Highlighting the health effects of water-borne disease, Akintade said that there would be increase in failure rate, health burden and manpower and brain loss.
While suggesting possible ways to curb this menace, he said there should be collective response to the issue rather than relying on the government. He added that there should be a rigorous sanitation in the barracks, and this should be channeled via a serious campaign on what you put in your mouth.
The health expert concluded that sanitation should be returned, open defecation repelled and effective healthcare delivery system should be in the barracks.
No water, no sanitation
Over the years, the deplorable state of police barracks in Nigeria, especially in Lagos State, has been a source of worry to stakeholders in the security industry and the nation as a whole. Concerned Nigerians are worried about the kind of motivation that policemen and their families get from their places of abode.
From Elere to Ikeja to Obalende and other barracks for the rank and file of the Lagos State police command, there is the need for urgent intervention by the police high authority. There are visible cracks on the walls and they portend serious danger for not just residents of these barracks but also for people who pass by them.
Saturday Tribune investigations revealed that apart from the continuous neglect of barracks’ facility by the police authorities, lackadaisical and sentimental attitude of most rank and file has continued to be the bane of police barracks in Lagos State.
It was further gathered that many of the inhabitants of the barracks in the state are reluctant to carry out any major repair on their abode because of the fear that they could be transferred out of the place any time without notice.
A senior police officer who spoke with Saturday Tribune under the condition of anonymity opined that the deplorable condition of police barracks would “certainly affect the performance of officers” and blamed the decay on neglect from concerned authorities.
The police officer said: “It will certainly affect the performance of our officers on the field and in the office. These are some of the things that are responsible for the misconducts of our policemen. Some of these barracks were built as prototype of what they had in the United Kingdom. Go there now and compare theirs with ours.
“A police officer who lives in a dilapidated and dirty barracks will be emotionally unbalanced even if he or she works in the neatest police unit or command. At the long run, his or her experience at home will adversely affect the environment of the place of work and that will ultimately affect his performance at work.”
Obalende abandoned
Though he blamed the continued decay of infrastructure in police barracks on neglect, he called on residents of those barracks not to relent. “The major problem with these barracks is abandonment by successive police authorities. When was the last time any major renovation was done on any of these barracks? When was the last time a genuine inspection was done on these barracks? Were there cleaners in these barracks? What have the cleaners been doing over the years? Fine, some of these police officers are dirty but is it their duty to clean the compound? They are to clean their apartments. Some of these policemen contribute to repair most of the things that have been abandoned in the barracks. Some of them, after repairing those things, will be transferred out of the state. Do you expect them to still do the same thing in their new barracks?”
Obalende barracks, apart from lacking basic amenities, has become a haven for criminals who burgle homes of residents and vehicles parked in the compound. The activities of the burglars have become so worrisome for inhabitants of Obalende barracks that they now embark on night patrol of the whole area.
A mobile policeman who pleaded for anonymity in an interview with Saturday Tribune said: “This place is all about inspection and nothing else. The essence of inspection is just to find fault and send occupants out. There are no renovations or major repairs for a long period of time.
“After the last fire incident, the provost has been coming here regularly to check people who still cook in their rooms. Everybody has been directed to cook outside. Anybody that is caught cooking in his room will be sent out of the barracks and a new person will be put in his room.
“Now we have tap water but it is not running in the bathrooms and toilets. You fetch water from outside and take into your apartment. That is far better than how it was some years back.
“The major problem in the barracks is insecurity. Those boys from Obalende sneak into the barracks and burgle rooms. They steal generators and other things. There have been many cases of car brain box being vandalised. That is, however, reducing now as we now embark on patrol around the barracks every night.”
Elere lacking
For about six months now, residents of Elere Barracks have been coping with acute water shortage following the breakdown of the pumping machine in the central borehole there. Residents now go outside of the barracks to fetch water. Water problem has for long been a problem at the barracks. Some years back, it took the intervention of a social club to get a functional borehole for the barracks.
The Elere barracks has become an eyesore. There are visible cracks on the walls and on the decking. The laundry bays have collapsed, no functional soak-away as water from the bathroom spills around the barracks. The environment is unkempt, despite claims by residents that they clean the barracks every Saturday. Weeds are overgrowing the surroundings and the paintings on the walls have faded.
A teenager at the Elere barracks who spoke with Saturday Tribune on condition of anonymity said: “I am 15 years old. I was born here at the barracks. I grew up knowing this place like this. There is no new thing. The only new thing we usually have is the borehole. Whenever one malfunctions, we wait for some time and get a new one. I always hear of the provost. He is the one in charge of this place. They change them from time to time. From the way I look at all of them, they are almost the same person. They have over the years been threatening those who refuse to partake in weekly sanitation with a report to the provost. The provost has never been forthcoming, when there is any urgent need to fix anything in the barracks.”
Another resident at the Elere barracks who also pleaded for anonymity said: “It is true that the police have abandoned the barracks but what our people are doing is also not encouraging. The fact that the government has failed does not mean that we should also become a failure. When you go around, some of them use choice cars in the barracks. There are SUVs and other good cars but they don’t want to spend their money on where they live.”
The resident added: “I am sorry to say that some of our men are silly. If the government does not provide a cleaner, does it mean that your environment should be dirty? If you go round, there are a few people who have painted their apartments and their surroundings are clean but the majority of the people in the barracks are dirty.
“For many months now, the borehole system in this barracks has been faulty. We have continued to wait for the provost to come and repair it. Some of the officers in this place can afford to fix that borehole in less than a week but we always want the police to come and do everything.”
The policeman quickly pointed out that “we all know that staying at the barracks for a long period of time is not guaranteed but that does not mean that one should neglect the facilities in those places during your stay. Nobody is telling you to do a general renovation of the whole place. There are things we do in our individual rented apartments which ordinarily should have been done by the owner of the house.
He also attributed many of the dilapidating infrastructures to overpopulation. “Some of these facilities are overstretched. The apartments are not meant for an officer with a large family but go in there and check, there are some of them with about seven children in a facility for a maximum of three people. The borehole that just packed up is serving the whole barracks.
“Ideally, there should be a bigger central water system and each block should have running taps in all the apartments. In the absence of a big water scheme, there should be an industrial borehole with a capacity to cater for the whole barracks. Shortage of water, on its own, is a great health challenge. The environment can never be clean without adequate water supply,” he submitted.
No ‘fatigue’
Saturday Tribune investigations revealed that sanitation exercise, popularly known as “fatigue” in the barracks is not as effective in the police barracks as it is in the military barracks. While the Air Force and the Army ensure strict compliance to “fatigue,” the leadership of the police barracks is more relaxed in enforcing compliance.
It was also observed that apart from the usual fatigue exercise, the Air Force ensures serious punishment for residents of barracks whose environment is found to be dirty during unannounced patrol, hence, the cleaner environment in Air Force barracks.
The barracks in Lagos State also do not have health facilities and rely on hospitals around them for treatment. A resident at the Obalande barracks told Saturday Tribune that “we use the police hospital in Obalande for treatment. We don t have any health centre here.”
Residents of the Ikeja and Elere barracks also disclosed that they also have no such facility the barracks to cater for emergencies. While the Ikeja barracks residents said they rely on the police hospital in Ikeja for treatment, those in Elere said they make use of hospitals around them.
Most of the barracks in Lagos and other parts of the country have also not undergone any major renovation for more than a decade. A resident at Elere disclosed that “’for almost a year now, there has not been water supply here and you are talking about major renovation. For the more than 10 years that I have been here, there has been no response on either major or minor.”
The resident added: “I am not sure if this barracks has been repainted since it was first painted, when it was built. You can go round the whole place and see if any major renovation has been done.”
NCP kicks
The National Conscience Party (NCP), Lagos State chapter, said it found it obligatory and necessary to comment on the deplorable conditions of the Nigeria Police barracks nationwide.
A statement by its chairman, Mr Bayo Ogunleye, reads: “This is an issue of urgent and grave concern regarding the residence and living conditions of our foremost law enforcement agency, especially the Nigeria Police, which is a creation of the Nigerian constitution and act of the Parliament (Police Act) with annual budgetary allocation for its operations and welfare.
“In spite of the inadequacies of the barracks, which are the official residences of police officers but accommodates just only a handful of them throughout the country, the deplorable state of the quarters is a gory sight to behold and an eyesore thus makes it less inhabitable for humans.
“A first-time visitor to any of our police barracks in the country will be confronted with buildings with cracked walls, patched or broken roofing, non-functional sewage system, signs of years of neglect and zero maintenance culture of the authorities.
“A more disturbing and worrisome aspect of these nauseating conditions of police barracks is that the residents who are mainly officers and men of the Nigeria Police are not immune to security challenges in form of robbery attacks, vandals in the barracks in spite of the fact that most of the policemen had to lobby their top echelons and pay through their nose before securing the accommodation, which ordinarily should have been free as part of their welfare package.
“The reasons for these socioeconomic problems in the living conditions of the Nigeria Police officers are not far-fetched, which is a multiplier effect of the insensitive, irresponsible, inefficient and irresponsive mentality of the government in power, coupled with the endemic corruption which permeates every sector in the country.
“Taking into consideration, the precarious working conditions of our security personnel in the country, with the attendant job hazards, we find it highly unacceptable and condemnable that any police officer who sustained permanent injury or died in active service has no well-defined or clear-cut compensation, gratuity or entitlement to alleviate the sufferings or assuage the feelings of such officers families feelings.
“More so, an average take-home or monthly salary of our police officers is nothing to write home about with the resultant effect of bribery, corruption and kickbacks.
“The NCP, Lagos State chapter, hereby demands for the call for emergency in overhauling and complete rehabilitation of all police barracks, including their academy or training schools in the country, to add meaningful and worthy living conditions to our Nigeria Police who are statutorily mandated to secure the lives and properties of the citizenry. The time to change from the usual narratives is now.”
Police react
The image maker of the Lagos State police command, Bala Elkana, insisted that the police in the state ensure strict compliance with sanitation at the barracks, pointing out that the command only takes care of sanitation and peaceful coexistence at the barracks in the state.
He also said that “they (residents) don’t have any reasons not to be involved in ‘fatigue’. That is part of the rules and regulations of the barracks. The police is a disciplined force and we ensure that residents of the barracks face disciplinary measured for disregard for rules and regulations at the barracks.”