An officer in the Nigeria Police Force has revealed why many of his colleagues take bribes and extort Nigerians at every opportunity.
According to security personnel who spoke to SaharaReporters about the matter, many police officers, particularly thousands recently recruited into the force, have been demoralized and are living in abject poverty because the force has refused to pay them salaries since they joined.
According to him, many of them are struggling to meet their family responsibilities, and they have not been paid in four months.
WITHIN 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 admitted that the majority of the constables were “surviving on bribes and extortion” as a result of the salary delay.
Since January 2023, the officer stated, they have been reporting to their duty posts without pay. The police constable pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to intervene and free them from reliance 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.