₦airaland Forum

Some policemen and their families escaped being crushed on Monday night when a two-storey building in the Pedro Police Barracks, Somolu, Lagos, collapsed.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the building, which served as the kitchen, bathroom and toilet extension, collapsed at about 8.30pm when most of the residents were in their sitting rooms and bedrooms.

A resident, who identified herself simply as Faith, explained that the collapse was not surprising considering the dilapidated state of the barracks.

Faith, wife of a sergeant in the barracks, said, “It was around 8.30pm Monday evening. We just heard a rumble as if an earthquake had occurred. When we rushed out, we saw that a two-storey building, which is an extension of the main building, had collapsed with the staircases. We were using the collapsed building as our bathrooms and toilets, while a two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor was occupied by two families. What saved us was that many people were already in their sitting rooms and bedrooms. Otherwise, there would have certainly been casualties.

“The noise was so loud that the people living outside the police barracks came in to see whether an explosion had taken place. For now, some of us have started packing because we do not know which building is the next. As you can see, the state of the buildings are not different from one another.”

Our correspondent, who was at the site of the collapse on Tuesday , gathered that no fewer than 27 families were affected by the incident. According to the residents, each family has at least four members.

About 25 residents from different families were seen bringing out their property down through some ropes since the staircases had collapsed. While this went on, others were seen trying to recover lost property in the debris.

Another resident, who identified himself as Charles Averikson, urged the Federal Government to renovate the buildings in the barracks.

He said, “We want the government to come to our rescue. This building is the first victim of government’s negligence, we do not know which is the next. You can see that people are already packing out because we suspect another collapse. I was born and brought up here. You know collapses are common, especially as we enter the rainy season. We thank God the building did not collapse in the morning during our bath.

“Unfortunately, it is not that we do not pay. About N20,000 is being deducted from my dad’s salary every month. We also pay electricity and water bills. Why then should government neglect and fail to maintain the buildings here?”

When our correspondent left the area by 1.30pm, a rescue van belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency came into the barracks. Three officials of the agency then proceeded to the collapsed structure to evaluate the extent of damage.

The Nigeria Police Force Police Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, could not be reached on the telephone and a text message sent to the phone had yet to be replied as of press time.

The NEMA spokesperson, South-west Zone, Ibrahim Farinloye, said efforts were on to evacuate the residents.

He said, “A building collapsed at the Pedro Police Station Barracks. No one was trapped and there was no casualty. The occupants of a block of 27 units, who are families of serving police officers, have been evacuated. The building collapsed due to its weak structure.”

The federal government earned the sum of N251.5 billion only as gross proceeds from the sale of 122 public enterprises since 1999, the director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Benjamin Dikki, has revealed.

Dikki, who made this disclosure in Abuja at the weekend while delivering a paper entitled “The Federal Government’s Privatization And Economic Reform Programme” at the maiden annual lecture of Just

Friends Club Of Nigeria, also revealed that, of the N251.5 billion, only N147 billion net proceeds has been remitted to the Privatisation Proceeds Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Dikki listed some of the privatised enterprises to include Eleme Petrochemical Company which, he said, has now been revitalised and is producing at over 90 per cent capacity. Others include Benue Cement Company, Ashaka Cement Company, West African Portland Cement Company, Okomu Oil Palm, Savannah Sugar Company, NAHCO, and Federal Palace Hotel.

He also stated that plans to privatise the refineries were still on, noting that government halted the process to engage labour and reach an understanding of how the privatisation would be structured. He said approval has been given for labour to be part of the Privatisation Steering Committee to be chaired by the minister of petroleum resources.

He said: “If labour agrees with us today, we will start the process of advertising for a transaction adviser who will conduct a study on the industry and come up with recommendation on what privatisation model the steering committee will adopt.

“Right now, Eleme Petrochemical requires the by-product of refining for its production, but it’s not getting enough because the refineries are not producing at optimal level. There are 10 to 15 industries that can spring up from the by-product of refining and they will create employment. Government believes it is imperative that these refineries are privatised and that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is expeditiously passed.

“Once the PIB is passed it will aggregate all the regulatory powers in one institution. Currently, the regulatory powers are dispersed amongst the Ministry of Petroleum, the NNPC, the PPPRA and DPR and that becomes a jungle for any business man to navigate. Regulatory impediment must be removed and that’s why we are appealing to the National Assembly to pass the current version of the PIB,” Dikki stated.