May 22, 2026
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.
