Friday 18 January 2013

See how terrible the lives of students in Police College, Ikeja are


by Rachel Ogbu

Even a condemned prisoner should not live this way. A Channels TV documentary on the life of students living in the Nigerian Police College Ikeja has revealed the deplorable conditions they face. Its an irony that these students will later graduate to become policemen and women.
The documentry shows shocking footages of ramshakled domitaries, broken drainge, flooded toilets, bacteria infested toilets and more. The rot in the police training colleges in Nigeria does not only affect the infrastructure but also the welfare of the trainees.
Channels TV had the opportunity to film a meal-time at the training college at Ikeja, Lagos, the crew recounted how they watched as the cadets struggled to get their bellies filled with substances not fit enough to call food. About 50 trainees were seen sharing one head of fish.

Male dormitory 10, is one of those built by Nigerian colonial masters in 1940. Today, its windows and doors are damaged with no plans for any repairs. There is no electricity and the occupants point out blood stains from bed bug bites.

The female hostels are no better. Meanwhile, the recruits will spend 13 months of their lives in there.

The College once had an Olympic-size swimming pool which is now a breeding ground for toads. It used to win medals for shooting all over West Africa but there is no shooting range anymore.
According to Jonah Mavah, the Deputy Commandant of the College, there has been no major development since establishment except for some few renovations. The College itself was built for 700 students but today, it contains 2,554.
As for the library, the Staff says they cannot remember the last time books were supplied to the library which is full of museum pieces and antiquities called books bought in the 1970s.
The scenario is not different from those in the six other police colleges in the country.
A fresh graduate from the police college in Maiduguri, who requested to stay anonymous, said though there were toilets at the college, the trainees preferred to ease themselves in the surrounding bush.
There are 7 police colleges in Nigeria and a total of 18,500 constables graduated as at December 2012.
In 2013, a sum of N311 billion naira has been budgeted for the Nigerian Police. It is hoped this money would be used judiciously and a significant part of it be allocated to improving infrastructure in the Police College and other facilities of the Nigerian Police.
YNaija.com

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