Again, police officers deployed for Osun polls allege non-payment of duty allowances

Twelve days after the Osun State governorship election, officers of the Nigeria Police Force drafted to provide security at the polls have lamented non-payment of their allowances.

They had said that no fewer than 40 per cent of them had been deprived of their entitlements despite claims by the Force Headquarters that their allowances had been domiciled in a particular bank.

Some of the officers, who visited Police Micro Finance Bank in Oke-Fia, Osogbo, were disappointed as the bank reportedly informed them that their money was not released.

One of the officers said: “I just returned from our Micro Finance Bank where they told me that our allowances and that of my other colleagues have not been released.”

“We heard that a Deputy Inspector-General of Police had removed the account details of some of us in 39 PMF Squadron and the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB). This is not fair because we worked for this.”

Meanwhile, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement, heaped the blame on a bank, which he didn’t disclose, adding that the financial institution had “technical issues.”

“With regards to the payment of allowances of police officers that participated in the Osun State gubernatorial election duty, it is pertinent to emphasise that officers scheduled for the duty had their account details forwarded to the Police Accounts and Budget (PAB) office at the Force Headquarters where payments were prepared and disbursed accordingly.

“The said payment of allowances to cover the election duty was disbursed directly into individual accounts from the PAB office and not through any state police command. As such, individuals started receiving payment alerts even before the commencement of the election.

“However, one of the new generation banks (name withheld), with whom some of the officers accounts are domiciled, reported delays in disbursement due to technical issues. This was immediately followed up and from all indications, the concerned banks have commenced payments.

“All complaints with regards to this have been addressed internally and every officer captured for the election duty have been paid. This situation is noveau as it has not been experienced in the previous Anambra and Ekiti gubernatorial elections. It is fully the bank’s fault and not that of the Force. Officers affected were communicated via SMS and internal memo as to the situation. Continuous complaint on this particular delay in payments, which has been addressed, amounts to impatience and indiscipline on the part of the affected officers.”

But about a week after Adejobi claimed the officers had been paid, some officers have confided in The Guardian that they were yet to receive their allowances.