IG's wife sets to eject beer joints in Police barracks

Hajia Hajara Usman Baba, wife of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, who doubles as the President of the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) has condemned the spread of beer joints in police barracks. She made this known on Thursday in Ikeja, Lagos during a three-day working visit to familiarise herself with POWA members in the state and also to access the Police children school, to improve the general standards.

According to her, spread of the joints in the Police barrack is a bad influence on officers' children and the future of the country. She added that she would immediately send a signal to the Force headquarters for the outright relocation of beer parlours from police barracks, threatening that whoever flouted the directive thereafter, would be ejected from the barracks.

She noted that beer parlours should be located at a given distance from the barracks as stipulated by law.

Speaking to POWA members at the POWA hall, Ikeja, she said, “During my inspection yesterday (Wednesday) I saw a lot of beer parlours in barracks. I know it is you people that encouraged such. You should try and speak to your husbands to follow the rules and regulations of the barracks.

“I grew up in the barracks because my father was a policeman. Then, there was no beer parlour. And with the future of our children in the barracks, we should be careful because these children are more intelligent than us.

“We are going to send signals immediately, for the relocation of the beer parlours. If you don’t keep to it, you will be ejected out of the Barracks.”

She also lamented the dirty state of barracks in Lagos and announced the commencement of environmental sanitation, every Saturday. She informed that she would personally take part in the next one, after taking a 30-minute walk with POWA members, as part of activities to mark her visit.

She said, “What I saw at the barracks was devastating. The barracks were unkempt. It was very dirty. If there is no sanitation nationwide, can’t you sanitise yourself, or don’t we have barracks leaders? There is going to be sanitation henceforth. It is going to be a continuous exercise until we are retired.”

Noting that policemen had been demoralised due to happenings in the country, she admonished POWA members and other wives of policemen to be supportive at this moment, by being submissive to their spouses, adding that this was not the time to nag at home, as such would go a long way to affect their husbands’ efficiency at work.