Some of the police officers told SaharaReporters that Contingent 10 (both NFPU10 and NFPU11) spent 15 months each on the mission but while the European Union (EU) has released money to the police authority, NFPU10 officers have not been paid for two months while NFPU11 officers have not been paid three months.
Personnel of the Nigeria Police Force Peacekeeping Unit deployed to Somalia in 2021 and 2022 for peacekeeping missions have lamented that the police authority has refused to pay their remaining entitlements.
Some of the police officers told SaharaReporters that Contingent 10 (both NFPU10 and NFPU11) spent 15 months each on the mission but while the European Union (EU) has released money to the police authority, NFPU10 officers have not been paid for two months while NFPU11 officers have not been paid three months.
One of the aggrieved officers said, “We spent 15 months. We (NFPU10) returned in July 2022 and they paid us for 13 months, remaining two months. The EU paid the balance for the remaining two months to our authority but up till now, they haven’t credited our Euro accounts.
“The process is that the EU doesn’t pay us directly. They pay our authority before our authority pays into our accounts. The euros for the two months are currently with our authority. The same thing goes for the NFPU11 whose three months euros are with our authority.”
One of the affected police officers said they were paid over 800 euros every month during the mission.
The officer said the two months that have not been paid to NFPU10 officers amount to over 1600 euros for each of them.
According to the officer, about 150 officers took part in the mission as Contingent 10 members.
who said that they were paid over 800 Euros, added that Contingent 10 who two months money have not been paid, amounting to over 160 Euros, were about 150 officers during the mission.
The police officer said that the EU paid for the remaining two months to the Nigeria Police in September 2023 but to date, the police authority had not paid the money into their accounts.
Asked whether they have made efforts to find out from the police authority why they have not been paid, one of the officers said, “The issue is that if anyone complains to them directly, they may use it against the person. You know we are a regimented organization.
“There has not been any formal complaint but even the Contingent 11 who went after are already back but they have also not been paid for three months.
“But from the information we gathered, the European Union has paid our authority money for five months - two months for ours and three months for Contingent 11 - but the money has not been paid into our accounts to date.”
However, several attempts made by SaharaReporters to reach the Director in charge of the Peacekeeping Directorate, DCP Augustine Moses Jagaba, for clarification failed.
He neither answered his calls nor replied to a text message sent to him.