The House of Representatives on Thursday called for the auctioning of police barracks across the country to tackle the deplorable living conditions of of officers of the force.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by lawmaker Murphy Omoruyi of Edo State’s Labour Party during plenary.
The motion opined that the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Police Affairs to liaise with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to immediately assess the value of all federal-owned police barracks across the country and auction them.
The House said the move was to allow for construction of befitting accommodations for police officers, given the deplorable state of police barracks across the country.
Omoruyi recalled that the National Assembly passed the Police Reform Bill 2020 which was signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari on September 16, 2020.
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He however said the problem of adequate and dignified accommodation for police officers had persisted and so far outlived all previous measures.
“For example, between 2019 and 2022, over N5 billion was spent by the federal government on barracks renovations. Despite all efforts, barracks continue to fail to meet basic needs in their current state of disrepair and lack of maintenance,” he said.
He argued that the barracks method of housing for police and local law enforcement officers is “a relic colonial practice that has since been abandoned by the same colonialists in their home countries.”
The lawmaker expressed concern that police officers and their families live in squalor quarters characterized by “large cracks on the walls, bat-infested houses, leaking roofs and dilapidated structures.”
