According to the policemen, they had
not been paid their August and September salaries.
A police source disclosed that eight
police commands; Kaduna, Kebbi, Gombe, Nasarawa, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Imo and Ogun
states are reportedly owing August and September salaries.
In a swift reaction, the Force
Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Jimoh Moshood, denied the allegation,
stressing that salaries of Police Personnel across ranks throughout the 36 states
and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and all other Police Formations, had
always being paid as at when due.
But yesterday morning, policemen of
Kaduna Command, who besieged the command, said that they were unhappy with the way
the police authorities were treating them.
The protesters, who moved around the
police command to emphasize their grievances, later gathered at the front of the
‘Salaries Office’ inside the command.
The Kaduna State Commissioner of
Police, Mr Agyole Abeh, who came out to address the policemen, explained that
the delay in payment was from the finance ministry’s IPPS office and not the
fault of the police. He urged the protesting policemen to sheath their swords.
Abeh said: “We will deal with anyone
that contravenes the law. I’m in the field attending to a very important
security matter, but I have to come back to the headquarters to address you,”
he reportedly told the protesters.
Some of the protesting officers
openly accused the minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, of refusing to allow
President Muhammadu Buhari to know the exact situation regarding the nonpayment
of the police salaries.
One of them said: “She already lied
to Mr President that all is well. How can you fight corruption and you don’t
pay police their two months salaries?”
Reacting to the allegation that
policemen attached to eight commands had not been paid two months salaries,
Moshood said: “It’s not correct and misleading that Police Personnel protested anywhere
in the country because of non-payment of salary. Few Policemen who went on
inquiry to the Mechanized Salary Section (MSS) in Kaduna State Police Command
over complaint of Under-payment, Omission of their names on the Salary Payroll
as a result of the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel
Information System (IPPIS) handled by the Office of the Accountant-General of
the Federation, were immediately attended to and addressed by the Officer in
Charge of the Mechanized Salary Section (MSS), Kaduna State Command in the
early hours of today (Monday), that their problems have been taken up by the
Force Headquarters with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.”
Moshood said
that immediately Force Headquarters with the Office of the Accountant-General
of the Federation took up the matter, the policemen went back to their duty
posts.
He stressed:
“No Policeman protested and none went on rampage as reported in the media in
Kaduna State or anywhere else in the country. However, some challenges such as
Under-payment, Omission of names on payroll, Non-payment and Over-payment of
some Police Personnel experienced in the Eight state commands that had been
enrolled on the platform of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information
System (IPPIS) in the payment of August and September 2017 Salary have been
taken up with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and its
being promptly addressed.”
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