Police Officers' Wives Thrown Out Of Barracks Shops

The wives of police officers at Jericho Barracks in Otto, Ijora, Lagos State, western Nigeria, have been thrown out of their shops in the barracks because they could not afford to pay the required sum for the reallocation of the shops to them after reconstruction.

P.M.NEWS learnt that the shops were demolished on Tuesday in order to be reconstructed to an acceptable standard, but the affected wives have decried the way they were displaced from their shops.

Some of the affected shop owners  who spoke with P.M.NEWS claimed that the leadership of  the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) ordered them to vacate their shops for demolition, promising to reallocate the shops to them after reconstruction.

They alleged that they were initially asked to pay N2, 500 each for a form to retain their interest in their shops but were later given a short notice to pay N140,000 within two weeks, otherwise  the shops will be alloted to civilians.

The affected wives alleged that when they could not pay within the stipulated time, the shops were allocated over to civilians who paid N200, 000 each

Efforts to speak with POWA chairperson on the issue proved abortive at the time of filing this report.