Some civilians working with the Nigerian Police Service Commission (PSC) have accused the organisation of owing them salaries for over a year and disengaging them without pay.

They told FIJ they were recruited between 2020 and 2021 to serve in various commands across the country and they reported for duty.

They were never paid, and some of them were never enlisted on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), FIJ learnt.

Michael Agbo, head of the civilian staff, told FIJ he and several others were owed salaries for over a year, and were let go without compensation in August 2022.

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Speaking with FIJ, Agbo said, “The recruitment exercise was made public, and we applied. Some of us got our appointment letters in late 2020, while some others were recruited in early 2021.

“They asked us to report to various commands they posted us to, and we did. Each of us received signals to report at different commands.

“After working for a while, we started processing our salaries. We enrolled into the Nigeria Police Force Pensions and were given introduction letters from our commands to enable us get enrolled into the IPPIS scheme, but that was it. We never heard anything about capturing for IPPIS again.”

Agbo said the same was experienced by many across various commands. The staffers were not captured by IPPIS and never received salaries for the work they did.

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He said they made complaints to their commands but were referred to the federal police force in Abuja, the capital city.

“This year, we came together and wrote to the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), and they forwarded our complaint to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP),” Agbo said. “Soon afterwards, a signal arrived from Abuja ordering all commands to disengage civilian staff that were yet to receive salaries.”

Another staffer, who asked not to be named, said she was posted to Plateau State in June 2020 and went there believing she was going to earn a living.

Speaking with FIJ, she said, “I thought it would last for two to three months, because people in the command told us that salaries did not get paid immediately one joined.

“They said IPPIS might take two to three months to perfect our registration, but throughout my time with them, they never registered me, and I never got a penny.

“I would always borrow and tell people I would repay them when my salary came, but now there is no salary, and I have debts to pay.”

A copy of the disengagement letter made available to FIJ reads, “Order and directives, INGENPOL directs you disengage all civilian staff serving yours [sic] that have not been captured by IPPIS. All civilian staff attached to senior police officers, if any, to be disengaged accordingly. Treat as urgent.”

The signal was dated August 8, 2022.

When FIJ contacted Muyiwa Adejobi, spokesman for the Nigeria Police Force, he accused the owed staff of joining the commission illegally, and dubbed them “fake staff”.

Reacting via text message to FIJ, he said, “Many of them got the job through the back door. There is a process to follow when we want to engage civilian staff, so those who didn’t follow the process are fake staff.

“If anyone disengaged believes he has a case, he can come up with his documents to cross check, so that we can advise him on what to do. We have not disengaged any civilian staff that was legally employed.”

Ojukwu is a reporter with FIJ, in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.