The high price tags on houses in the estates built by the Nigeria Police Cooperative Society Limited have put the buildings beyond the reach of the rank and file, many of whom are facing accommodation crisis.
The cooperative has completed housing estates in Ondo, Ogun, Lagos, Nasarawa, Rivers and Cross River states as well as in, Abuja and many other cities in the country, but the least of the buildings (2 bedroom flat) goes for N4.5m and many policemen do not have a mortgage plan to take advantage of the offers.
The police cooperative society was established by Force Order 130 in 1977 but it has largely been unable to cater to the housing needs of police personnel.
Findings showed that many policemen in Federal Capital Territory were in poor habitations as they could not afford the huge cost of accommodation in the city.
A number of police officers that were transferred from the states to the FCT have been camping in the premises of the police command with their luggage and personal effects littering corridors and available space in the buildings.
Others live in uncompleted and abandoned buildings in the city and in satellite towns such as Nyanya, Kuje, Deidei and other settlements that offer cheap but substandard accommodation.
Checks revealed that newly deployed policemen in other states suffer the same fate of accommodation crisis and some of them are forced to live in dangerous, crime-infested areas that put their lives at risk.
Though the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, had pledged to assist police personnel by building low cost housing estates, many policemen who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said nothing has been heard on the matter for over a year even as policemen continued to live in makeshift structures.
The IG who said this while inaugurating the Board of Directors of a Primary Mortgage Bank for the Police, FOKAS Savings and Loans Ltd., on May 16, 2012, admitted that lack of accommodation for officers of the force promotes corruption and immorality among them, adding that lack of permanent accommodation had accelerated the death of many retired officers.
Abubakar had said, "Many officers are distressed by the thought of retirement and even transfer for the fear of not having a permanent place of residence for themselves and their families. The worst are those who died in active service, because their families are generally ejected from either rented or official abodes before the end of their mourning period.
"The effect of this has encouraged corruption, immorality among officers and men of the force, and has accelerated the death rate of retired personnel."
The IG announced last year that by the middle of 2013, seven hundred housing units would be delivered to officers in the Inspectorate and rank and file cadre as part of an initiative with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to build social housing for police personnel in all the states of the federation, including the FCT.
The Managing Director of the FMBN, Mr. Gimba Ya'u Kumo, during a visit to the IG on March 4, 2012 pledged that the bank would collaborate with the police authorities to develop a minimum of 150 housing units in each state of the Federation and FCT under a "Police Social Housing Scheme" in collaboration with a foreign partner that would provide 70 per cent of the funding.
He said police officers would contribute the balance of 30 per cent as personal contributions while the FMBN would assist by providing National Housing Fund loans at affordable interest rates to enable the officers to acquire the houses.
The Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, could not be reached on Monday for comments on how far the scheme had gone.
But the Public Affairs Manager, FMBN, Mr. Dauda Yusuf, said that the bank had commenced construction of 400 units of houses for the police in Keffi, Nasarawa State, under the social housing scheme.
