PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, will today, commission the newly rehabilitated Ikeja Police College, Lagos, whose dilapidated condition drew the ire of the president in January.
Alarmed at the neglected state of the college, following clips from a documentary aired by a television station, Jonathan, had, on January 19, diverted his aircraft to make an unscheduled inspection visit to the institution on his way to a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Côte d’Ivoire.
The president met a dilapidated students’ hostel, which had no bed, mattresses and functioning toilets, while parts of the school had been rented out by its authorities for wedding receptions.
The documentary, which captured the dehumanising conditions of police cadets, had angered the president at the time, as he saw it as an attempt to embarass his administration.
However, Jonathan directed the immediate rehabilitation of the college under a four-month ultimatum to the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers, who had now accomplished a total renovation and given the college a new look.
Beyond the commissioning of the college, Jonathan is expected to have several private meetings in Lagos before returning to Abuja at the weekend.
[Tribune]