A group of Nigerian policemen have concluded plans to go on a nationwide strike from March 28, 2015, which is the date slated for the Presidential election due to unpaid salaries.
According to them, this will help the police authorities look into their demand and show their level of seriousness.
Speaking on the issue, the police personnel said that over 100 of their colleagues retired in 2014 without r promotion receiving their arrears and other benefits, adding that the payment had been pending for over two years.
Some of the men who spoke to newsmen in Abuja on Monday, March 2, 2015 expressed fears that their benefits may not be paid as promised by the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba as a result of the 2014 police budget which suffered a little set back.
Abba had stated in a document on the 2015 Budget Defence presented to the Senate Committee on Police Affairs last week that the 2014 police budget which suffered a shortfall of N6,464673,537 made it impossible to successfully conclude the payment of personnel emolument in 2014.
The policemen said that about 15,000 policemen were affected by this adding that from the information reaching them, nothing was being done by the authorities to address their complaints.
“The only way we could make the IG pay us our salary arrears and other benefits is to embark on strike on Election Day when the nation would need us the most. Otherwise, the issue would be swept under the carpet, like others.
“Over 100 policemen have retired without being paid the arrears and some of us would retire this month or next. This means that we may not get the money before leaving service,” the men complained.
However, the force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, had promised earlier that the aggrieved policemen would be paid as soon as they received money from the Federal Government.
“We are working hard to pay the men and I can assure you that they would be paid once the government pays us; we are waiting for the government to pay us, so we can pay them. The welfare of officers and men of the Force is of paramount importance to the IG and he would do everything necessary to ensure their welfare,” he stated.
