By Augustine Ehikioya
Worried by some media reports, the Nigeria Police Force has debunked the reports claiming that the Force was delaying payment of the allowances of some officers who covered the Osun State Gubernatorial election.
The election was held on the 16th of July, 2022, with most officers now back to their original State of posting.
The ongoing delay in the officers’ allowances payment, the Police said, is caused by their various banks.
This was contained in a statement issued on Friday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, and made available to Security Watch Africa (SWA).
It reads “With regards to the payment of allowances of Police Officers who participated in the Osun State Gubernatorial Election duty, it is pertinent to emphasize 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 bank have commenced payments.”
All complaints with regards to the issue, the statement said, have been addressed internally and “every officer captured for the election duty have been paid.”
It added “This situation is novel as it has not been experienced in the previous Anambra and Ekiti States 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.
“The reports and the news on non-payment of election allowances as widely publicized is misleading and unfounded, and should be disregarded,” it stated.