Though the residents, who spoke to Aso Chronicle, described the community as peaceful owing to the regular patrol of police officers from the Bwari police division, they reasoned that stationing some policemen at the abandoned outpost would complement the efforts of the patrolling police officers.
When our reporter visited the outpost situated by the road in a place said to be earmarked for an abattoir, it was locked.
According to Luka Umar, who identified himself as the guard deployed to the building by the contractor, the building has not been handed over to the authorities of the area council hence, adding he would be there until it is handed over.
He said police officers have not been deployed to the building, citing the handing over as the first step before the building can be put to use by the police.
Umar, who spoke in Pidgin English, said the place has not been occupied since it was completed two years ago.
He said: “The place should be occupied by the police, but they are not here, since it has been built for about two years now. I am the guard here and I have been working here for about two years.”
On the state of the building Luka said. “There is no water and electricity, the job of the contractor is just to build.”
At the residence of Dagachi of Kogo, Samuel F. Gimba, the community head did not mince word in explaining the security challenges of the residents.
He said: “We are facing a lot of things in terms of security. Before, we had vigilante in this community but, along the way, the vigilante group today is not functioning.”
The chief said the vigilante group while functional, was maintained by the residents, who collectively pay them stipend at the end of the month, but the residents could not sustain it thereby leading to the collapse of the group.
He added: “You know how people behave, when it started, at the end of the month, nothing was given to these people, they have to leave the work for us and since then we have been facing many challenges.
“There was a time that we were disturbed by thieves; they stole vehicle batteries, burgled houses, collecting handsets, money, and other valuables.”
Samuel said the activities of the robbers were heightened when the community was thrown into blackout sometimes last year after they vandalised the transformer and stole the electric cables.
“That month was a dangerous month for us, we could not sleep,” he said.
He said the residents had to contribute to fix the damage done by the criminals in order to restore electricity.
The community head said the residents are working towards reconstituting the defunct vigilante group which stopped working two years ago.
Other steps considered by the community, according to the head, is the “involvement of a private security firm because the security of lives is crucial to the development of the community.”
Samuel, however, scored the activities of the police officers in the community high, saying they are always available when called upon. He identified their constant patrol in the community among reasons why the community records few criminal activities.
He said: “The police are trying their best because they do patrol the community from time to time, and I do see them. Sometimes, if we are facing problem we do call them and they come. During the issue of the car battery, I went to the DPO in Bwari and he assured me that any day someone is caught, I should run to him. Actually, that was what we did. They are trying, but you know they cannot be everywhere.”
He, however, identified the commissioning of the police outpost in the community as a lasting solution to the security challenges of the area.
He added: “We have police station at Kogo community but it is not yet finished. It is still in process and it is very important to the community that is why I do go to the chairman because of that police station. If we have something in this community like that, it will help us and expel the bad ones in the community.”
He said the completion of the police outpost would bring the law enforcement agents close to them, adding that there would be no need to be calling officers from Bwari Police Station.
Continuing, he said: “If officers from Bwari can patrol my community, officers stationed at the community would do better because they are stationed here. The lasting solution to the security challenge in the community is to make use of the police outpost.”
