New NDLEA officers decry non-payment of salary, agency blames IPPIS

New officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have protested the non-payment of their salaries for six month.

The officers claimed they were yet to be paid their salaries since completing their training at the Agency’s Academy last year.

Speaking to The Punch on Sunday, one of the affected officers said, “Since we graduated last year, we have not been paid a dime. We are being owed from August till January. Our appointment letters were dated July 25 2021.

“The rumour we are hearing is that they will only pay three months and they don’t want to pay the rest. The whole thing has become frustrating.

“To feed and get transport fare to work has not been easy. We have people who depend on us. The agency is not being fair to us”.

However, a circular signed by the Director, Finance and Account, Shitu Abdullahi, on behalf of the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, the agency claimed that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System was responsible for the delay.

The circular also confirmed non-payment of just January 2022 salary, instead of the six months being claimed.

The circular, marked NDLEA/T’IN/88/VOL. VII and dated February 3, 2022 was titled ‘Non-payment of January salary to Batch 1 officers who passed out September and November 2021 respectively’.

It read, ‘’The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, IPPIS Department has informed the agency that officers who graduated from the Academy in September and November 2021 respectively were not created on the IPPIS Platform for payment of January salary due to lack of ample time for creation, while few were created.

“In view of the above, the affected officers will be paid in February 2022 with their January 2022 arrears’’.

But the officer claimed that he and many of his colleagues were captured while in camp.

He said, “We were captured while on camp. Many of us did, if they are saying it is the IPPIS, why have we not received our money? Honestly, the whole thing is very confusing”.

The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, however, said the delay in payment was not the agency’s fault but the NDLEA is putting effort to ensure the concerned agency resolves the issue before the payment of February salary.

He said, “They are of different batches. They graduated at different times. The issue is beyond the agency; it has to do with the activation of their IPPIS number by the appropriate government department.

“It is not everybody that is affected. I think out of the 5,000, about half of them have received, that is what is prompting those that have not received to cry out.

“Those not paid are the ones their IPPIS numbers have not been activated. We are working with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to resolve this before the payment of the next salary. Don’t let us forget that, this is the first time in the history of the agency that such number of persons would be employed, it is something that would take time for those handling it outside of the agency”.