Threats from some angry police officers to jeopardise the forthcoming polls, over the non-payment of their salary arrears by the authorities are perilous. The angry cops are 15,000 officers promoted from the ranks of sergeant to inspector; and from inspector to assistant superintendent of police in December 2013. Their posture is dangerous and could be contagious. This crisis should be resolved in their favour before March 28, when the presidential ballot will be held.
At a recent news conference where they ventilated their grievances, through their spokesmen, they said the authorities only paid them salaries of their new ranks beginning from January 2015, without any word on the arrears that had accumulated for 13 months. As a result, they vowed to work for the “highest bidder” during the elections. This must be cheery news for our debauched politicians who have reportedly stolen and bought permanent voter cards for rigging.
The aggrieved cops said, “Elections are coming. They said we should be neutral. How can we be neutral when we are being short-changed by our bosses and the country? We want to be paid or else there will be crisis during the elections.” The only way to nip this threat in the bud is to ensure that these officers get their due before the polls.
Though the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has reacted to the threat, with an assurance that the police high command is working assiduously with concerned government agencies to effect the payment of their arrears, he however threatened to deal with the aggrieved cops, should they proceed with their plan. The IG’s position is encapsulated in a statement from the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu. It reads, “The Inspector-General of Police is miffed that officers have to recourse to unapproved channels to air their perceived grievances. The IG, therefore, warns such officers of the dire consequences of breaching extant rules and regulations.” The IG is right.
Categorically, such action is at variance with extant regulations such as the Trade Unions Act 2004. Section 11 of the Act forbids members of the Armed Forces, which include the police, from engaging in any form of unionism. Others affected are the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Prisons, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited and those the minister (labour) may, from time to time, by order, specify. Yet, the IG is also at fault for depriving these cops of their entitlements for so long. A labourer deserves his wages. It is the dereliction of duty of those in the higher echelons that provokes these uniformed men to go against their oaths.
Though Abba is justifiably jolted, it is not the first time the police authorities will be confronted with this rash behaviour. Under Musiliu Smith as the IG, the rank and file in 2002 went on strike over the non-payment of salary arrears and allowances in some South-East states. It spread to other states and ultimately led to Smith’s ouster by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
In an earlier editorial, we had warned of the danger of slashing the police budget during the elections. The Force was allocated N279 billion in 2014, as against N292 billion it received in 2013, a reduction of N13 billion. This is a proof of lack of method or haphazardness in budgeting for the country’s security outfits.
Reiterating their resolve on Wednesday last week, the aggrieved officers doubted the sincerity of the IG to clear the arrears. This is an integrity deficit every IG faces because of police perceived notoriety for corruption. Unfortunately, it is a blemish both the rank and file created over the years. The N17 billion a former IG fleeced the system of the police pension fraud, sundry recruitment scams and turning of our highways into illegal cash tolls are dark spots that constantly remind Nigerians of the kind of police they are saddled with.
Nevertheless, we believe that the Federal Government has not done enough to boost the morale of an average police officer. He is not paid well, is ill-trained, badly equipped and his welfare is not catered for. This explains why a policeman on the road is unfriendly and aggressive towards the very citizen he is supposed to protect. Faced with these circumstances, it would be difficult for policemen to surmount the challenges of the times.
The government may have been found wanting in meeting its obligations to the police, but where those in police top hierarchy constitute themselves as pins in the balloons of junior officers, then the crisis assumes the hue of self-immolation. This comes in various forms: career retardation; non-payment of allowances to officers on special duty; and delay in the payment of benefits of their deceased members to next of kin, among others.
For a Force badly in need of rectitude, its high command must lead by example and motivate their subordinates at critical times. The Department of State Services demonstrated this when it paid N10 million, to each family of its officers slaughtered by Ombatse cult members in 2014 in Nasarawa State, almost immediately. On the contrary, the police belatedly paid just N1 million to each family of their own victims of the same incident.
Abba, therefore, owes the country a duty to meet the needs of these upset cops, in order to save Nigeria further embarrassment of fiddling with its democratic transition.
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