The ministry of police affairs is spending N60,405,370 to assess police barracks across the country, FIJ has found.
Contained in the 2025 budget is a line item which reads ‘Assessment of police barracks nationwide’. This line item is listed as ‘Ongoing’ in the ministry’s budget with code ERGP3157929.
In July, Harrison Ani, an Italy-based Nigerian, shared pictures of dilapidated police barracks on the microblogging platform X. Via his account @chiditweets042, Ani shared these pictures with the caption #NPFBarracksSeries.
Victoria Island Police Barracks, Lagos on #NPFBarracksSeries @PoliceNG @PSCNigeria It is appalling the conditions you make officers of the law live in. We are beginning to understand how the top echelons of the NPF have psychologically damaged officers of the Federal Republic… pic.twitter.com/kKF13svuS7— Harry 🎯🎯🎯 (@chiditweets042) July 22, 2024
Three months later, Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), posted on X that the police had developed a prototype to replace these barracks.
Adejobi said, “Old police barracks will go down, and the new ones will be built to comfort officers and men of the force. Here are the prototypes. It’s achievable.”
Attached to this post were pictures of old and new facilities.
Old police barracks will go down, and the new ones will be built to comfort officers and men of the force. Here are the prototypes. It’s achievable. pic.twitter.com/FTgnDHDJNc— Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi (@Princemoye1) October 15, 2024
Despite this public commitment to renovating the facilities, the 2025 appropriation states the ministry is still spending tens of millions of naira to assess these barracks.
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Meanwhile, contained in the budget is an odd N67 million ongoing project listed as the ‘Promotion of inter-agency cooperation between police and defence and security agencies’.
The relationship between the police and other security agencies has often appeared fractured in public as several reports capture clashes between them. Some of these recent clashes can be seen here and here.
This friction and lack of cooperation is costing the government N67 million.
FIJ also found that the construction of new police barracks was not listed in the police budget but in the section for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). The NIS has ‘Construction of police stations/barracks’ in its budget for N743,766,895.
Also outside the police ministry’s budget is the renovation of police stations and barracks. The fire service has this in its budget for a cost of N336,654,956.
On February 13, the Senate approved the 2025 budget and retained these provisions.
The post SPOTTED: Police Ministry Spending N60.4m to Assess Barracks, N67m for ‘Cooperation’ With Security Agencies appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.