Following the recent outcry among members of the Nigeria Police Force over what they described as arbitrary deductions of their salaries from source, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has revealed reasons for the deductions.
Speaking through the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr. Frank Mba, Abubakar said that the N5, 500.00 deductions, from all police personnel last month, was for the benefit of the personnel.
According to him, the money is to facilitate the floating of a mortgage bank for the police, which will greatly improve the housing needs of every police every. The bank will be in every state, due to the wide spread of police personnel.
The floating of the police bank became necessary after policemen had repeatedly been disappointed and frustrated by National Housing Fund (NHF) in acquisitions of loans to rent, buy or build a house.
The N5, 500.00 deductions, which will run for only two months, will make every policemen, shareholder in the bank, thus entitle to a share certificate, loans and dividends. The loan will be expected to assist any policeman to have a home of his own.
Mba said: “Food and Shelter remain tops on man’s hierarchy of needs.
Every Police Officer needs and deserves not just a temporary Shelter, but a modest home of his own.”
Last week, after police received their salaries, they had embarked on protest, alleging that since Abubakar assumed office, he had cultivated the habit of deducting from their salary.
They revealed that the first time, was when he deducted N1000 from all policemen’s salary, insisting that it was for Police Games. The latest is the N5, 500.00 deductions, which is present generating a lot of acrimony.
Few days after the deduction, they were all issued the Fokas forms by their superior officer, which was for the procurement of Fokas Savings and Loans Limited shares.
Some of the policemen who realized that the deduction was towards housing, said they were not interested and as such, do not want further deductions from their salaries. One of them said: “Even if it’s for housing, I don’t want! Why? It’s because I know that such housing will not get to people like us! I work day and night as a policeman; all I want is my complete salary at the end of the month.
“It’s not right for the IG to deduct our money from source without first alerting or explaining the reason to us. It’s our money after all!”
Another sets of policemen argued that they were not interested in further deduction of their money since they would be going on retirement in a few months or next year.
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