By Ayodele Oni
Those unemployed recruited into the Nigeria Police Force in 2021 and 2022 can now grave a sigh of relieve as the Police Service Commission (PSC)Â approved salary payments for those of them that passed out of the Police Colleges and have been in formal work in different Police Commands and formations since the past six months without salary.
These category of police recruits have protested and staged open demonstration to demand for payment of their entitlements.
Delay in their payment, it was gathered was as a result of unending conflict between the PSC and the Nigeria Police as the commission said it was not aware of their engagement.
PSC Chairman Dr. Solomon Arase, said the Commission’s decision was reached in the interest of national security anchored on the need to amicably resolve the lingering issues of recruitment between the Commission and the Nigeria Police Force which have occasioned untold hardship on the Police Constables.
He said the Commission’s prompt response also followed outcry and appeals from Nigerians that the 2021/2022 Police recruits, who are yet to be enrolled into the Federal Government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, and who had not received salaries, six months after they passed out from the Police Colleges and duly posted to Police Commands and formations for active Police work, are not made victims of the face off between the Commission and the Nigeria Police.
A statement on Sunday by the PSC Head, Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani stated “The Commission’s approval for the enrollment of 1007 recruited personnel into the Nigeria Police Force in the recruitment exercise of 2021/2022 into the IPPIS payment platform for the purposes of salaries and other emoluments has been conveyed to the Accountant General of the Federation.
“In the letter signed by Dr. (Mrs) Ifeoma A. Anyanwutaku, Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Commission and dated, 5th May 2023, the Commission requested for “prompt and favourable response in activating and emplacing the necessary processes and procedures at ensuring that these Police Officers are immediately captured on the required payment platform and paid accordingly.”
“The Commission’s Chairman, Dr. Solomon Arase, CFR, former Inspector General of Police, feels a sense of discomfiture over newspaper reports that the Officers had since resorted to alms begging and other untidy acts to sustain themselves and had moved immediately to resolve all pending and envisaged issues surrounding the matter.”
Arase had announced at a Stakeholders meeting with Civil Society Organizations that the face off between the Commission and the Nigeria Police Force will soon be over to the benefit of both parties and the greater interest.
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