‘Epidemic outbreak looms in police barracks’

• As Ambode orders demolition of SURE-P taskforce’s haven

LAGOS State government has raised an alarm over the poor sanitary conditions in police barracks across the state, warning that an epidemic outbreak might just be imminent.
 
The State Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule, observed this during the June edition of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise monitored at Iru Victoria Local Council Development Area (LCDA), as she appealed to the Federal Government (FG) to intervene in the deplorable condition in the police quarters.
 
In a related development, state government last Saturday demolished the headquarters of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) taskforce at the old tollgate axis, along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
 
The governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, gave the demolition order after observing that the abandoned offices could harbour criminals and a bad advertisement at the main entrance into the state.
 
Adebule, during a visit to the Victoria Island Police Barrack, said its deplorable state calls for concern and in need of urgent attention. 
 
According to her, I want to appeal to the Federal Government to pay utmost attention to the barracks. We realized that over the years, the infrastructure in the police barracks have dilapidated and we are not comfortable with this. 
 
She said: “As we are campaigning for cleaner Lagos, we believe that the central government should also assist the state government to attain a cleaner environment. They should adopt any strategy that could help improve the state of the infrastructures in the Police Barracks within Lagos.”
 
When The Guardian visited the scene, it was observed that the structures, which serve as the headquarters of the agency that recruited over 5000 youths, were already been pulled down by the taskforce officials. And the debris and heap of documents used by the agency were been carted away from the scene by trucks. 
 
Chairman of Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Hakeem Adedeji, said the governor ordered the demolition, for reasons not unconnected its conversion into hideout by miscreants.
 
Adedji said: “In fact when we arrived, we couldn’t find any Federal Government officials inside the building, rather the street urchins.
 
“We should have demolished the structure since Monday but we had to follow due process before embarking on the demolition exercise. And all these are geared towards ensuring that the rights of the citizen are not infringed upon,” he said.