By Egufe Yafugborhi

Inside the Warri ‘B’ Division of the Nigeria Police, officers and men, working in concert with the civil populace under the jurisdiction, are redefining policing. At a point police subventions do not improve the piteous work conditions of officers and men, particularly in the area of infrastructure; stakeholders are amazed that the Warri ‘B’ Division, perhaps the youngest in Warri metropolis, has been turned into a construction site since the coming of CSP Aniete Eyo as Divisional Police Officer, DPO.

DPO Eyo

The Warri ‘B’ Division was created in November 2005 from the exigency of arresting increased ethnic violence in the volatile oil city.

Between 2005 and May 2015, over nine DPOs passed through the Warri Division operating in the bungalow donated by the host Okere Urhobo as office for the men and officers alongside a small palliative provided by the Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC, much later. Christopher Otumu, Chairman, Warri ‘B’ Division PCRC, recalled, “It was terrible in those past years.

Officers and men were cramped in the few office rooms, sharing the limited space with cell inmates. More pathetically for newly posted rank and file, the morale to discharge their policing duty was just not there as most of them slept in the open, bitten by mosquitoes for weeks before they were able to secure private accommodation”.

When Sunday Vanguard visited the Division, recently, however, the take-off building and every ramshackle attachment had been demolished. A wall now separates the once open police station from its immediate civil populace.

A storey quarter-guard (sentry-box) adorns the gates. Two massive structures, an Officers Mess and an expansive staff office, nearing completion and already partly in use, have sprouted firmly from the ruins of the demolished old structures. Inside the new ‘B’ Division cell, already housing inmates in the yet to be completed office building, inmates have the pleasure of own toilet and shower, a convenience missing in most Nigerian prisons where inmates answer the call of nature in a bowl with the risk of contracting diseases. Funding for the infrastructures under DPO Eyo, who assumed office in May 2015, is coming from donations from the civil populace in the jurisdiction.

Otumu added, “The magic wand really has been Eyo’s selfless service. He tells prospective donors, ‘we don’t need cash; give us cement, sand, fitting or any other essentials we need to have a befitting office’. This selfless disposition has eased the PCRC work in assisting the drive for material support in building thus far. The result has been a rare show of support from corporate bodies and individuals.”

Only last week, Lee Engineering, a key oil and gas player, while presenting a 30KVA power generator to the ultra-modern Warri ‘B’ Division Station, noted that the organization always felt moved to assist the divisional office because of the unusual qualities of the DPO. Olusina David, Group Human Resources Manager of the firm, said, “We have chosen the ‘B’ Division, first and foremost, because of CSP Eyo. Our first point of interaction with him showed he very much deserved to be supported. He embraces virtues that Lee Engineering identifies with; integrity, ability to make the difference for positive change in the environment.

“Our Executive Chairman, Dr Leemon Ikpea, personally made donations to the Officers’ Mess you see there. When we came here less than two years ago, everything we saw here were very derelict buildings, everything in tatters.    “The first bold step we saw the DPO take then, quite unusual in the Niger Delta, was to set up CCTV cameras for community policing. That caught our attention that he was ready to embrace technology and do the unusual positively. Our CEO responsively supported him and he’s delivered. For the protagonist of the infrastructures revolution in hitherto decrepit Warri ‘B’ Divisional Police Office, the real credit goes to the people and his bosses. The real credit goes to the Commissioner of Police to whom I will always convey the donations and support and inform him accordingly”.

DPO Eyo, responding, said, “I plead with the people to sustain the support. The promise I can give is that we have the zeal, determination, focus and will to reciprocate the gesture by putting in our best to chase criminals away from the ‘B Division’ to give reasonable sense of security to the people”.