Some Officers drafted to provide security during the recent Anambra gubernatorial election are said to be protesting non-payment of their allowances eight months later after the exercise, indicating that a subtle crisis is brewing within the ranks of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The officers who were dissatisfied were transferred from the NSCDC headquarters in Abuja to the South East state.
According to sources within the Corps, the Corps’ leadership has withheld funds intended for officers’ housing, feeding, and other miscellaneous allowances.
They claimed that the affected officers were forced to pay for hotel accommodations and other expenses out of their own pockets.
The majority of those affected are officers in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Corps (DSC) and below, while Commandants were given the necessary allowances to cover accommodation, feeding, and GSM communication, among other things.
The source disclosed, “There was no accommodation provided for us. We were taken from Abuja to Ekiti State without any plan for our accommodation.”
“Stranded officers had to cough out money from their pockets to pay for hotels. It was only the very Senior officers that were lodged in hotels.”
“Even the allowances they promised to pay, till date we have not seen anything. It is the same thing that they did during the governorship election in Anambra State. When you complain, they tell you to wait for your turn when you become Oga.”
When contacted, NSCDC PRO, Sola Odumosu, said that the Corps was yet to receive money for the Ekiti elections from the federal government.
“As I speak with you, the federal government of Nigeria is yet to give the Corps a penny from the Accountant General’s Office. Rather than approach my office or their leader, they’ll prefer to embarrass their services on the pages of newspapers.
“I don’t know how that helps them. There’s no way that the Corps will be given money to disburse to personnel for election duties, and then, the leadership of the Corps will put that money in their pocket.
“It is not possible. Not at this age. Not this time,” he explained.
Odumosu equally blamed the protesting officers for insensitivity and impatience, insisting that “even the money used to prosecute that election was borrowed by the leadership of this Corps.”
He claims that all allowances for the Anambra gubernatorial elections in 2021 have been paid, and that “there’s no way the Corps will divert funds meant for officers allowances. The Osun State election is around the corner. How can you do that and ask them to go monitor the Osun elections.”
