Some personnel of paramilitary agencies under the Ministry of Interior are mobilising for a nationwide protest over alleged deduction of their salaries by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS).
Personnel of the agencies, made up of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and Federal Fire Service (FFS), also complained about delay in payment of promotion arrears.
“We are seriously oppressed, victimised and robbed by IPPIS. Our rights financially are not given to us, such as promotion arrears, underpayment of all entitlements as approved by the federal government, and this month, we are grossly underpaid.
“This is deliberately done to us, with total disregard to the present economic realities on the civil servants,” a post on the social media by some of the personnel on Friday read.
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Weekend Trust gathered that the problem also extended to the two other paramilitary agencies.
A personnel of the FFS who craved anonymity said he didn’t know his salary as he got a different amount each month.
“I can’t say how much my monthly salary is because I don’t get exactly the same amount every month.
“There was a month I got less than a personal who is two ranks my junior; and I didn’t take any loan,” he said.
A personnel of the NIS also said she and many of her colleagues faced the same challenge.
“I have gone to the IPPIS office several times without any success. I have decided to just pray and hope that things improve,” she said.
When contacted for a reaction, the spokesman of the NCoS, Abubakar Umar, said the protest was against the rule of uniform personnel, adding that there are channels for them to register their grievances for redress.
On his part, the spokesman of the NSCDC, Babawale Afolabi, said the commandant-general, Dr Ahmed Audi had already addressed the issue.
According to him, the CG had promised the personnel that all problems would be rectified at the end of this month.
“The problem is from the IPPIS. It seems they were working on their systems. Everything will be rectified from this month’s salaries,” he said.
Responding to the allegations, the spokesman at the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, clarified that the arrears highlighted by the paramilitary staff were being paid in tranches
“These payments are being made in batches based on the availability of funds, therefore, the case is not peculiar to them.
“The deductions from the IPPIS are normal, such as pension remittance, personal income tax and association dues, among others,” he said.
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