Inside Makurdi’s Mopol Barracks where families drink from pond

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

It is undeniably one of the largest police barracks in Benue State, housing nearly 400 families. Yet, for many of its residents, the Makurdi Mobile Police (Mopol) Barracks falls far short of being a true home.

While it towers above all other police barracks in terms of large size and strategic location, it fizzles into oblivion when it comes to the possession of basic amenities like running water for consumption and domestic use. For that major deficiency, the Mopol Barracks in Makurdi has become a place defined by daily hardship, frustration and relentless struggle for one of life’s most basic necessities-water.

For many families, especially mothers, living in the barracks is not an option but a bastion of refuge due to the escalating cost of accommodation in Makurdi, the state capital, a development that has effectively tied them to an environment that is neither desirable nor befitting for human habitation in the 21st century.

At the heart of their suffering is a worsening water crisis that forces women and children into a harrowing experience that begins long before dawn.

Residents say the situation has reduced life in the barracks to what one mother called “living hell”, as families are forced to wake up as early as 2am to search for water, often trekking long distances to a stagnant stream, their only reliable source.

The presence of the pond, does not provide a panacea to their problem but merely adds to their suffering. Indeed, it intensifies their water ordeal.

Women and children, often in large numbers, gather at the stream, especially during the dry season, scrambling to collect water that must then be carried home on their heads. For those living in two-storey buildings, the journey does not end until they have climbed multiple flights of stairs with heavy containers to deliver the ‘precious gold’ into their containers for family use.

“It is a harrowing experience,” many residents say, describing a routine that drains both physical strength and emotional resilience.

Perhaps most troubling is the effect on children. In many cases, they are forced to skip school to assist their mothers in fetching water.

A housewife and mother of six, who identified herself simply as Madam Franca, has lived on the top floor of one of the buildings for five years. Her account paints a grim picture of prolonged neglect and insensitivity on the part of those whose responsibility it is to act, but have failed woefully.

“Since we came to this barracks about five years ago, we have not seen water running here. There is a borehole, but it broke down several years ago,“Madam Franca recalled with tears.

“We learnt that even when it was working, people still had to trek long distances and climb stairs with water,” she explained.

According to her, the situation becomes more troubling during the dry season.

“We all go to the stream during rainy and dry seasons. But the suffering is unimaginable when the stream dries up, leaving only a small portion where close to 400 families gather to struggle for water,” she said.

“After fighting hard to fetch the water, you then face the challenge of carrying it to the top floor, depending on where you live. For those of us on the first or second floor, it is extremely difficult for us and our children,” she said with a voice heavy with frustration.

“We do this every day by trekking long distances to fetch water and to climb the stairs in order to take the water into our respective flats. By the time you are done, you are completely exhausted. It is not something anyone would wish even their enemy.”

Madam Franca did not hide her disappointment at what she sees as a painful contradiction. “It is a shame that we survive on a stream, and nobody cares. But our husbands are sent across the country to tackle security challenges while the families they leave behind face worse hardships than what they are sent to fix.”

Another resident, a mother of four known as Mummy Grace, was seen at the stream with her children, scooping water into containers. For her, the stream is the only thing sustaining life in the barracks.

“If not for this stream, how would we have survived in Mopol 13 Barracks? I live on the first floor with my husband and children. Since we came here about three years ago, I have never seen water run in the toilets or kitchen.”

“We were told there is a borehole, but we have never seen it pump water. We have never seen water running in our flats,” she said.

She lamented the physically taxing and emotionally draining experience, saying: “We climb the staircases every day with basins, buckets, and jerrycans of water on our heads.

“At the peak of the dry season, we leave our homes as early as 2am because if you do not go early, you won’t get water for your family that day. That means no cooking, no washing, no bathing.

“Sometimes, our children become so exhausted after fetching water and climbing the stairs that they cannot go to school. They miss classes simply because of the stress of getting water for the family.”

Another resident, the wife of an Assistant Superintendent of Police, who requested anonymity, pointed to some improvisations made by some of the residents to ease the burden.

She observed that cement rings have been installed in parts of the stream to help collect water and make scooping easier, especially during the dry season.

“You can see the cement rings. They were placed there to help women and children gather water more easily,” she said.

Lamenting the pains the women and children are going through, she asked rhetorically: “How long will women and children in this barracks continue to depend on a stream for water?”.

But beyond the physical hardship, she raised serious security concerns, noting that: “Our women and children are exposed. They can be attacked or kidnapped while going to the stream, especially at such early hours.

“Our husbands and fathers are crime fighters, yet our families are left vulnerable. It is not safe. We appeal that something be done immediately by the authorities to address this situation before it is too late. This situation cannot continue. Our families deserve better”.

Police React

Reacting, the Benue State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP, Udeme Edet, said the issue had not been brought to the notice of the command.

“I am hearing this for the first time from you. The residents have not brought it to the notice of the command. There is no way the issue would be brought up and it will not be addressed. I will inform the management at the next meeting.”

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