Two hundred and thirty nine officers of the Nigerian Air Force, who recently completed a conversion course, have appealed to the Chief of Air Staff to release their withheld Duty Tour Allowances (DTA).
They had completed the course held at the Military Training Centre in Kaduna between October 31 and November 26, 2022.
A memo from the Office of the Chief of Administration to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, dated 22nd December, obtained by Daily Trust, had requested the approval of the Air Chief for release of N101m for reimbursement of the affected officers.
The memo titled: ‘Request for Reimbursement DTA/RCA-Year 2022 Conversion Exercise from DSSC to DRC-OFFRS FL LT FD Musa and 238 Others’ drew the attention of Air Marshal Amao to the fact that the attendees were made to source for money to pay for accommodation, hence the need to reimburse them.
Some of the affected officers, who spoke to Daily Trust anonymously from various states, said they borrowed money from friends and acquaintances following assurances from the authorities that the money would be refunded within two weeks.
Before implementing park and pay policy
They said they were currently under pressure from creditors who had threatened to sue them.
The memo partly read, “During the exercise, the officers serving outside Kaduna were not accommodated and had to source for accommodation at their own expense, therefore, there is the need to reimburse the officers’ DTA based on the duration of time spent.
“In addition, officers serving in Kaduna would need to be served RCA. Accordingly, the sum of N101,738, 400.00 would be required as reimbursement of DTA/RCA for the officers as detailed at Annex A”.
“In view of the above, the CAS is kindly requested to approve the release of the sum of N101, 738, 400.00 only as reimbursement of DTA/RCA to the offrs or direct as approved, Sir“.
Contacted yesterday, NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Wap Maigida, told Daily Trust that, “You know memo in the military or civil service is a classified document. We can’t comment on what we have not seen its content.”
By Idowu Isamotu (Abuja) & Kabiru Anwar (Yola)
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