Police College Kaduna: A tale of dilapidation, abandonment
In June this year, over 14,000 police men were invited to the Police College in Kaduna for a screening exercise initiated by the office of the Inspector General of Police, to ascertain the level of mental and physical fitness of serving policemen. During the exercise, which lasted over a week, the Independence Way along which the Police College Kaduna is located became a center of attraction to passersby due to the high number of police men and women seen regularly on that street.
Coming at a time when there were security concerns in Kaduna, the present of the officers instilled fears in motorists who tried to find out if there was a fresh threat that required the posting of additional personnel to the state.
But as it turned out, the policemen and women only lined up the streets on a daily basis to match into the college in an orderly manner. Sources among the trainees later disclosed that the facility within the college can hardly accommodate all of them at a time that they have to be made to queue outside the college to file-in in batches.
Many that turned up for the screening exercise, our correspondents observed, were compelled to tidy up and change right on the streets as they await their turn to be identified before entering the college.
Many of the officials that came with their vehicles were also made to park by the road, creating a long line of vehicles that covered more than half of the long stretch of the Independence Way which houses many institutions like the Police College, the Police Micro Finance Bank, police barracks and the Police Officers Mess.
Investigations by our correspondents then revealed that many of the policemen had to make do with sleeping in their cars as there were not enough rooms within the college to accommodate them.
A source said it is because the police authorities were well aware of this fact that they had to break the exercise into batches with the maximum allowed at a time standing at 4,000.
This way, one set had to be allowed to complete the screening before another is allowed to come. But even the breaking of the set into several batches did not solve the problem as the number of hostels at the college couldn’t accommodate all.
The major problem in the college, sources confide in our correspondent, has to do with the age of the institution and the facilities in place.
Established in1949 and currently serving eight police commands in the country namely: Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Plateau and the FCT, both the college and most of the structures within it have seen better days.
Standing for almost 60 years now for the training and retraining of police officers, the police college Kaduna, according to sources has trained millions of both serving and retired policemen and women in the country.
Public Relations Officer of the police college, DSP Ahmed Abdulkadiri Song, however, insists that the college has adequate
facilities to take care of all personnel invited for either screening or training.
He said the college had alerted the authorities to some of the problems in the college and that they were already doing something about it with the refurbishment done on the classrooms and some of the hostels.
At the last screening exercise, when his attention was drawn to the plight of the trainees, he said “they are well taken care of as there is enough accommodation for them inside the college.”
Our correspondents learnt that the college has not had any recruits for the past six years due to the inability of the police authorities to conduct major recruitment across the country within the period.
The college itself appears quite with mainly officers going about their duties within the premises. The residential quarters for staff of the college appear busy with women and children all over the place.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that even with the absence of recruits all may not be well with the facilities at the college.
Just after the main entrance to the college, the blocks of classrooms and lecture halls appear abandoned and have become like warehouses stocked with old benches and other furniture items that have packed up due to age.
Some of the classrooms are with broken windows and at various stages of dilapidation.
The building itself appear not to be in use as the many times our correspondent visit the place not much activity was noticed within the vicinity and only very few personnel are seen around the place.
The area that has a little bit of life is the administrative block that stands right ahead of the Quarter Guard.
There, the movement of policemen is noticeable, as they go in and out of offices sometimes clutching files to enter another.
In terms of brightness, the gate and the quarter guard remain outstanding with shiny colours from new coats of paints obviously from some of the renovation work being carried out in the college.
Though the offices within the administrative block appear neat, inside the offices paints a different picture altogether with the rusty pieces of furniture in them.
Other facilities that make for the comfort of officials in an office, like fans and air conditioning units are conspicuously missing that the officers have to make do with sitting under the shades provided by the trees within the vicinity.
The parade ground, beside the admin block tells a sorrier tale. Built to serve as a ground for the instruction, drill and training of recruits and more importantly for the performance of passing out parades and other ceremonies, the parade ground looks abandoned and worn out.
The ground floored with tar to make for easy walk and smooth drill has been sucked up as large portions of it have melted into the bare earth that held it, making it difficult for any decent training to take place there.
Even the podium were the guest of honour is supposed to take the salute during drills and ceremonies is in a sorry state with the blueyellow-green coat of paint completely peeled and the poles rusty.
A source in the college told our correspondent that because of the state of the parade ground, passing out parades for recruits are now conducted at the football field right near the administrative blocks instead of the parade ground.
But the football field itself is in no better shape as grasses has overtaken the vast field with no signs of any conscious effort to trim the grass and to beautify the prairie.
But the college PRO, though he agreed that the second parade ground is in a bad shape, explained to our correspondents that the college has another parade ground where it conducts important drills and ceremonies.
He said the field in front of the admin block is not for football as it was meant to serve as a parade ground and for other outdoor sports adding that hopefully the demarcation would soon be done to distinguish between the sports field and the area meant to serve as a parade ground.
Right opposite the parade ground however, our correspondent noticed that some of the halls have been renovated with four of them wearing new looks and shining with bright new colours.
The worst infrastructure in the college is the road. The road network is in such a bad state that larger part is not tarred. Once out of the Quarter Guard, the entire stretch of road leading to the hostels, offices and to the residential quarters are in a story state.
A long stretch appear as if it has never been tarred before while a great portion which bare signs of tar do not give any assurance as it has been completely washed off creating deep gullies and craters that sometimes have to be stuffed with stones and blocks for cars to be able to pass on.
This has made driving in the college a nightmare, as a source told our correspondent that during the rainy seasons, many vehicles get stuck while during the dry season, people have to wind up while driving past to avoid dust.
Song is, however, optimistic that the roads would be included in the next round of work to be done, saying it is part of the complaint submitted to the Force Headquarters about the state of facilities in the college.
“We have made a report to the force headquarters and we are impressed with their response because they have done much more than we expected and we expect that the roads would be included in the next round of projects they will be awarding,” he said.
But a source in the college said there have been great improvements in the college with the renovation work currently going on.
“Things were worst, but recently with the refurbishment work done, things have improved because some of the hostels and toilet facilities as well as the water supply system have been repaired and the impact is enormous,” he said.
The college PRO also agreed, saying a lot of work has been done to refurbish some of the structure. He said the work is in two phases with one done by the ministry and the other by the police authority.
“Work has not stopped, it is continuous, in fact, some have not even started and they have assured us that they will come back,” he stated.