Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has confirmed the development.
Some police personnel have cried out over the non-payment of their November salary, saying the situation has worsened their economic plight.
The officers who spoke to SaharaReporters on Tuesday, December 7, on condition of anonymity, said that unlike their colleagues from other security agencies, they have been resuming at their respective duty posts without pay.
“Today is 7th and no policeman has been paid salary. How on earth will policeman not take bribe when the peanuts they get as salaries don't even come on time.Any government that don't take the welfare of its security personnels seriously has lost the way. Yet they government wants a better and active police force. Funny enough, every other security agencies has been paid,” one of the officers told SaharaReporters.
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has confirmed the development.
According to a police wireless message with reference number CV:3940/PB/FHQ/ABJ/VOL45/8 DTO: 031350/12/2021 obtained by SaharaReporters, the IGP said the issue is being treated appropriately.
“PAYMENT OF NOVEMBER 2021 SALARY X INFORMATION RECEIVED MINE FROM IPPIS UNIT OF OAGF X INDICATES DELAY IN PROCESSING OF FUNDS FROM FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE FOR PAYMENT OF NOVEMBER 2021 SALARIES X WHICH IMPLIES THAT THERE WILL BE DELAY IN PAYMENT OF NOVEMBER 2021 SALARY X HOWEVER X INGENPOL APPRECIATES THE SACRIFICES AND DEDICATION OF PERSONNEL OF THE FORCE X HE IS THEREFORE MAKING FRANTIC EFFORTS TO ENSURE THE DELAY IS MINIMIZED.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria is broke and has been borrowing to fund its budgets and relying on loans to pay salaries.
For example, Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige, while doctors were on strike over poor allowance, had in September 2021 confirmed that the Nigerian government under President Muhammadu Buhari borrowed funds from international sources to pay salaries of workers because of a shortfall in the country’s revenue.
Ngige had said the government took borrowed funds from foreign institutions like the World Bank to offset some recurrent expenditures.
Also, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had in April 2021 admitted that Nigeria’s economy was facing a difficult time, saying borrowing was inevitable.
She had said, “We have very low revenues, we have very high expenditures. What we have done so far is just to provide some stability to make sure salaries are paid, pensions are received every month; that we send funds to the judiciary and the legislature; that we meet our debt service obligations.
“That’s what we are doing. It also means we have had to borrow more than we had planned before the COVID-19 started because we need to still continue to invest in infrastructure using our national budget. We borrowed to invest in key projects such as roads, rail, airports, seaports and several other investments that are required in health and in education and upgrading the social standards and quality of life of our people and Nigeria is not unique as several countries of the world went into recession.
“Almost every other country has had to borrow more than it planned. It means we expanded our deficit very fast in 2020. 2021 is a year that we see as the year of recovery.”
“So, FAAC reduces and whenever FAAC reduces, it is a very difficult situation and in the past one year, we have tried to fall back on some specific accounts that are meant to be saved; savings that when you have such a situation, you fall back on the resources and augment.
“So, we take funds based on Mr President’s approval either from Excess Crude or Stabilisation Account or in some cases, President approved for us to take funds from LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) dividends. In the month of March, we had a shortfall of FAAC that was about N50 billion; we didn’t have enough accrued in any of those accounts other than some N8.5 billion that we took from the exchange rate differential account so we added that and we ended up with the FAAC of N605 billion.”
Nigeria’s dwindling finances had also come under intense pressure as the Muhammadu Buhari-led government has been amassing foreign loans.
The country’s debt profile according to the Debt Management Office was N33.10 trillion as of the end of the first quarter of 2021.
This represents an increase of N191 billion compared to the N32.91 trillion recorded in December 2020.
The DMO in a statement had said the debt figures include the debt stock of the federal and state governments, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.