One of the NIS officers said those who were promoted between 2022 and 2024 had not received their arrears.
Personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have complained that the Ministry of Interior has failed to pay their promotion arrears since 2022.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, the affected officers said the ministry had stopped paying any allowances.
According to them, their promotion arrears were last paid in 2021.
One of the NIS officers said those who were promoted between 2022 and 2024 had not received their arrears.
He said the authorities have been silent on the issue despite several pleas and agitations by the affected officials.
“2021 was the year they last paid arrears. It's becoming the norm and it has to stop. Although we are not quite sure if the Federal Government isn't paying the arrears. Our plight now is that it seems the interior ministry won't pay the arrears,” one of the immigration officers said.
“These arrears are what civil servants use to become somebody as well.”
He said the promotion arrears varies depending on the ranks of the officers.
Explaining the payment pattern, another immigration officer said, “Some are entitled to N50,000 for 12 months while some are supposed to get N10,000 for 12 months.
“But the government is not paying and their body language shows they are not ready to pay these arrears again. And there is no other allowance for us except this one.”
However, efforts made to reach the spokesperson for the NIS, Adedotun Aridegbe for his comment and reaction were not successful. He did not answer repeated calls from SaharaReporters and did not reply to text messages sent to him either.
Also, in December 2023, SaharaReporters reported that almost five weeks after they participated in the governorship election in Bayelsa State, some NIS officials deployed for the poll had yet to be paid their allowances.
The election was held in Bayelsa on Saturday, November 11.
But some of the NIS operatives who participated in the election told SaharaReporters that most of them had yet to be paid.
They added that they used their personal funds throughout the polls, with the expectation that they would be refunded.
The officers urged the NIS authorities to ensure that their allowances would be paid.
“We’ll want to use this platform to speak as it borders on election allowances for the last governorship election that took place in Bayelsa State.
“The police have been paid officers their allowances but NIS are yet to pay us,” an affected officer told SaharaReporters.
“The election was November 11, 2023, yet we haven’t been paid, it seems some people at the top already embezzled these funds and it would soon be ‘voice mail’ on our part.
“We are calling on the NIS authorities, interior minister to pay our allowances and let it not be ‘promise and fail’ as usual.”
Another NIS officer said, “No specific amount was promised to be paid but during the last general elections, NIS personnel at the state level were paid N90,000 each while those at the headquarters received N200,000 to N300,000. Note, they were forced to pay then after several reports by SaharaReporters.
“In 2019, N100,000 was paid to each personnel in Bayelsa State thus in the same vein, funds have been mobilised for this purpose but if your platform doesn’t blow this on the news, these funds will be swept under the carpet.
“There is no sign that these monies would be paid because as of now, the issue is being buried while those powerful bosses within the system will pocket the money for their selfish gain.”