Police move to compel personnel to buy shares

Policemen in the country are angry over alleged moves by the Nigeria Police Force to compel them to purchase shares in a mortgage company, Fokas Nigeria Limited, which was acquired by the NPF.

The police management team had acquired Fokas, a primary mortgage institution, to assist every policeman to get housing loans from the Federal Mortgage Bank at low interest rates.

The police had approached the Central Bank of Nigeria to register the firm in its name and to carry out other necessary processes as stipulated by law.

In its reaction the leadership of the apex bank was said to have directed the police to recapitalise the firm.

To get the funds for the recapitalisation, as directed by the CBN, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, directed that the ownership of Tokas should be thrown open to all police personnel interested in buying its shares.

The police authorities also extended ownership of the firm to all civilian personnel working with the firm.

Abubakar’s move however, did not yield the expected enthusiasm from his men as they refused to show interest in the company.

There is mounting suspicion in the police especially among the rank and file, about the intention of the police leadership on the project.

Following the reluctance of policemen to buy shares in the firm, the IG was said to have sent a signal to all formations and command officers with a directive to educate their men on the benefits of buying Tokas’ shares, as a prelude to compelling the rank and file to subscribe to the firm.

To execute the directive, shares subscription forms were said to have been distributed to all policemen with an order that the money for the shares be deducted from their monthly salaries to cover the cost of the share subscription.

The Mechanised Salary Section entrusted with the responsibility of preparing the salaries of police personnel is said to be handling the distribution of the forms and executing the directive on deductions.

A police sergeant who pleaded anonymity, told SUNDAY PUNCH that since he filled and submitted the subscription form in January 2013, the sum of N24, 000 had been deducted from his salaries.

He said, “We were told that it is compulsory to buy the shares in the police company and since I submitted the form early this year, the police have been deducting N12,000 monthly from my salary. I don’t know how long I will pay for the so-called shares.”

The Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba attributed the grumblings among the police personnel to ignorance about the benefits of buying into the company which he said would “protect their future.” He said, “The company will be run by experienced and independent members of staff  and it will be like the police micro-finance bank which has been in existence since IG Attah was in office and it has been yielding profits for its shareholders.

“The police mortgage company will achieve a similar feat; subscription is voluntary, no one is being forced to buy shares in the firm.”

PUNCH