Hundreds of policemen on Monday stormed the Mechanised Salary Section (MSS) of the Lagos State Police Command in Oduduwa, in the Ikeja area of the state, to protest against what they described as “outrageous and unexpected” deductions from their salaries.
The policemen, comprising rank and files, as well as officers, said between N5,000 and N35,000 were deducted from their February salaries, while others lamented that they had not been paid for the month.
Some of the affected policemen, who spoke to PUNCH Metro on condition of anonymity, blamed the development on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation which pays their salaries.
The majority of the cops, who complained that their salaries were meagre, stated that the deductions had dealt a blow to them as they could not meet up with their needs.
Officials at the MSS office were said to have told the aggrieved policemen that the centre was not responsible for the deduction and gave them forms to lodge their complaints.
A police inspector said he was amazed when he received an alert for his February salary and discovered that N19,800 had been deducted.
He said, “I got the alert on March 8. My salary is N70,000. They deducted N19,800 from it and I was paid about N50,000. It is a fraud. That was why I came here (MSS office) to complain. We were told that the deduction was made by the IPPIS.
“I am almost 20 years in service and I have a wife and children to cater to. The N70,000 is not enough for our upkeep in the first place. This is criminality of the highest order and we want it to stop.”
A policeman and father of three children, who is attached to a police unit in the Ikeja GRA, said he was also surcharged by N20,000, adding that the MSS had promised to send their complaints to Abuja.
He said when he arrived at the MSS office around 9am to lodge his complaint, he met over 300 policemen who had come for the same issue. Read more