Police Special Forces Still Live In Deplorable Barracks And No One Cares

Despite being located behind the magnificent Zuma Rock in Abuja, there are no signs that the barracks houses the Nigeria Police Special Forces—the elite corps of the NPF. There are no battle-ready sentries; no intimidating perimeter fencing and the atmosphere had no aura usually associated with security formations. The barracks looked vulnerable to any security breach– an unbelievable oversight in an era of banditry and terrorism.

On approach, it looks more like a low income estate with nearly a hundred units of houses and residents and visitors casually strolling in and out. Inside, the conditions are ghetto-like, as the houses looked deprived of everything that makes a barracks, or an estate, habitable.

 The visitor would have to stroll inside the barracks to make enquiries about any residence as there was no one to give direction when THE WHISTLER visited on a Tuesday afternoon.

 The buildings had a dull look with faded paints. Each of the buildings has twin two-bedroom apartments. The apartment corridors were littered with dirty utensils and a slightly heavy stench sieves through the air as the visitor walks inside the barracks. The visitor soon discovers the source of the air pollution is the toilets in the buildings. There is no water supply to the barracks and residents have to depend on local water vendors. There’s no electricity too, except power from generators by those who could afford it.

A frustrated officer of the unit who sat down for a conversation with THE WHISTLER lamented the “absolute neglect” of the barracks. He just returned from his second physical training of the day and there’s no water for him to freshen up. This reporter caught up with him while waiting for a “Mairuwa”(water vendor) to buy  two or three 20 littres gallons of water for a shower.

Since July 2020, when wives of officers protested the deplorable living condition in the barracks, nothing has changed.

The women had barricaded both lanes of the Abuja—Kaduna road that passes in front of the barracks in protest, lamenting lack of water and electricity. They carried placard suggesting the benefits of their husbands were also not being paid..

“Look at where they asked us to stay, no light, no water, no benefit whatsoever, they are in the bush fighting on empty stomach. How do you expect hungry men to defend the nation…?” One of the protesters had told journalists.

The women asked that the Federal Government ‘take good care of’ their husbands or send them back to their place of primary assignment.

Nothing Has Changed

Exactly one year after, although with new operatives occupying the barrack, there has been no significant intervention by the authorities.

No one in the barracks was ready to speak on record to this website for fear of official sanction, but many are willing to bare their minds off-the-record.

“If you look around, everything is not comfortable and our families are here, no light; no water, even the accommodation is not comfortable. Our families are not coping right now, because they are just managing the place,” an officer lamented.

They said officers of the unit are to be trained both ”orally and kinetically not less than twice a day,” but taking proper is difficult due to lack of sufficient water in the premises.

“How can someone live without water? The roofs are also leaking, but the most important things are light and water — If you are living in the place where no light, no water, then that place is frustrating,” another  said.

A stroll around the barracks clearly confirms the officers’ grouse. After the women’s protest last year, police authorities installed one borehole and a small size water tank to serve a barracks with over one hundred units of houses.

Residents told THE WHISTLER that many of them had resorted to buying water from a pushcart carrying jerry-cans to pay daily or monthly.

In the night, most buildings are thrown into darkness due to lack of electricity.

The insufficient supply of electricity around the barrack was a peculiar issue in the barrack.

Special Forces Families Unprotected

The Special Unit Forces were instituted as a Covert arm of the Nigeria Police Force to tackle high-brow insecurity issues and other related cases in hotbed regions of the country. Thus, their safety and that of their families must not be neglected.

The compound can easily be intruded by anyone owing to the lack of a proper fence structure guarding the environment. This exposes families of operatives to danger and lives them at the mercy of intruders.

The Zuma Rock located at the extreme right side of the barracks is known to be a rendezvous of criminals, and leaving the barracks unprotected is certainly an inexcusable negligent of the authorities.

Many of the residents said this was a source of great discomfort to them and their families.

Force Headquarters ‘Unwilling’ To Talk

When THE WHISTLER visited the Nigerian Police Force Headquarters, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, was unwilling to answer questions on the issues. He asked for “more time to research and investigate” the findings of the reporter.

– This report was done with support from the Civic Media Lab, Ikeja, Lagos