Fashola warns of building collapse in police barracks

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, says there are high possibilities of building collapse in police barracks across the state.

The governor, who spoke during the inauguration of the newly reconstructed Area C Command headquarters in Surulere on Tuesday, added that the Ojuelegba Police Barracks was a prime example.

Fashola, who inaugurated the building, named after a former Commissioner of Police, late Kafaru Tinubu, lamented the failure of the Federal Government to adequately fund law enforcement agencies in the country despite receiving 52 per cent of the federal allocation. Continue..

He said, “The police quarters in Ojuelegba are in a state of structural dysfunction. I have written to bring the attention of the Federal Government to the poor state of these quarters. I hope that someone will discharge his responsibility so that the building does not collapse.

“We need to have the occupants of the building evacuated. The structural integrity of the building is no longer reliable, and I hope that someone will act so that we do not lose lives.”

Fashola said the structures in the Ojuelegba Police Barracks were built by the colonial masters before the country’s independence in 1960.

“But years after, those who gave us the former buildings have slowly redeveloped their building to suit the current standard in their own country. It was their best at that time. Over 50 years after, we have yet to move a step further from where they left us.

“If we had continued to wait for the Federal Government, the burnt Area C Command would still be standing eight years ago after it was burnt by protesters. And that was why we set out to show that the central government had left several things undone. This new building, represent the police command that I wish to have in Nigeria, especially Lagos State.”

Speaking on the new edifice, the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mamman Tsafe, said efforts were on to address issues in the barracks.

He urged the police in the state to use the facilities provided by the state government effectively.