By Uzor Odigbo
The newly recruited constables of the Nigeria Police Force have accused the police management of owing them seven months salaries and six month allowances.
The constables who resumed at their respective duty posts since passing out of the Police College in April, disclosed that they had been abandoned by the government, as they were yet to receive any salary since joining the force.
The constables who preferred anonymity, said they had looked forward to being paid in October after doing all the necessary IPPIS documentation back in September at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
“We are hungry. We have been working since April without any salary. Our superiors won’t stop posting us out for duties, despite the fact that we are not paid.
“Many of us still depend on our parents and relatives to feed ourselves. It’s been very tough. Many of us have borrowed money from people while also owing food vendors around our areas. Most times we wait by the roadside to get free ride, when we don’t have money for transport fare. This is not how officers of the law should be treated.
“Don’t forget that one of us was killed by armed robbers in Kogi on June 4. That’s the risk in this job, yet our welfare is not important to the authorities. How can anybody work for six months without being paid?
“If this had happened in the civil service, you would have seen them on the street with placards. But, we are voiceless. We dare not talk about it outside. We should be suffering and smiling. It doesn’t happen like that in other agencies,” some of the policemen had told DAILY POST.
It will be recalled that during the recent protest across the country against police brutality, one of the major agitation, apart from proscribing the now defunct SARS unit, was police reform. The protesters demanded for improved welfare package of police officers in the areas of housing and salary, especially for those in the junior cadre.
The federal government responded in a broadcast by the president on October 22, days after the protests started, saying it had directed the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission to expedite action on the finalization of the new salary structure. Almost a month after, nothing has been done to that effect.
A Sergeant Major on Grade 06 (step 10) takes N62,204.88 home monthly while a Sergeant Major on Grade 06 (step 1) receives N55,144.81 per month.
A Sergeant Major happens to be the most senior of the rank and file junior and non-commissioned officers. In the present economic situation of the country, such meager salary is not enough to cater for their families. This also affects the discharge of their duties as an officer of the law.
Although, this should not be an excuse or justification for their various reported misconducts, it is however one of the reasons we have massive corruption, impunity, extortion and high-handedness in the force.
To know why the salaries and allowances of the newly recruited constables were yet to be paid after seven months of engagement proved abortive as the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, could not respond to phone calls as at press time.