An officer of the Nigeria Police Force has opened up on why many of his colleagues take bribes and extort Nigerians at any given chance.

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The security personnel who reportedly spoke to SaharaReporters on the matter said many police officers, especially thousands recently recruited into the force, have been demoralized and are living in abject poverty as the force refused to pay them salaries since they joined the force.

According to him, many of them find it difficult to meet their family responsibilities, adding that they have not been paid salaries for the past four months.

The Press Nigeria understands that the said badge of constables passed out of the police training institutions on December 29, 2020. Claims by the constable who spoke on anonymity are that they have not been paid since then despite resuming at their duty posts across the country.

He confessed that most of the constables were “surviving on bribes and extortion” due to the delay in the payment of salaries.

The officer said they have been reporting at their duty posts without pay since January 2023. The police constable appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to come to their aid and save them from dependent on others for daily bread.

“Please, something is happening concerning Nigeria Police Force’s new recruit constables that passed out on December 29, 2022. We have spent four months now, and the police authorities, police service commission and federal government have refused to pay us.

“And we are working 12 hours a day for the whole week. No time for any other things, please we are suffering and dying of hunger already. They are indirectly teaching us corrupt practices,” one of the officers lamenting the situation reportedly said.

Another who reportedly spoke with the news platform added: “We now beg for food and transport fee to go to work and we cannot protest because it’s against the police regulations.

“And the worst part of this is that we are being posted to various special duties like we are already being paid. And we must go because it’s an order. We must look for good or bad means.”

PSC Halts Capture Of Recruits Data For Payment

It was gathered that the Police Service Commission (PSC) had, in January 2023, asked the Accountant-General of the Federation to halt the capture of the 10,000 constables on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel System (IPPIS).

The commission was said to have decided on that with the claims that the officers had not been issued their letters of appointment and should not be enrolled on the payment portal.

According to the Public Service Rules, public officers not captured on the IPPIS cannot be paid salaries and other emoluments.

The development followed the alleged refusal of the Inspector-General of Police to submit their names to the PSC for vetting on the grounds that he was empowered by the Police Act 2020 to recruit constables into the force.

The commission had also written to President Muhammadu Buhari, and Head of Service, Folasade Yemi-Esan, about the enrolment of police officers on the salary portal without letters of appointment.

The Press Nigeria understands that the face-off between the police authorities and the commission is a spill-over of their supremacy fight over the right to recruit constables.

Though the Court of Appeal on September 30, 2020, ruled that the commission had the constitutional mandate to recruit constables, the NPF had gone ahead with the recruitment process in defiance of the court order.