The House of Representatives at its plenary session of Thursday, 5 July 2018 resolved to setup an Ad hoc Committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the protest of mobile policemen in Maiduguri over their unpaid allowances and to report back their findings within two weeks for further legislative action.
Presenting the motion of urgent public importance, Hon. Kingsly Chinda (PDP-Rivers) stated that the security challenges in the country, particularly in Borno State necessitated the posting of additional security personnel to increase security in the area. Therefore, that it was saddening that the said personnel had not received payment of their special duty allowances for six months despite the provision of Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. He noted that the annual allocation in the budget for the payment of salaries and allowances made to the Police Service Commission included those on special duties or assignments like the policemen in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Speaking further, Hon. Chinda said that the argument put in response to the protest by senior police management that the men were being owed because the 2018 Appropriation Bill was recently assented to by the President did not suffice as their salaries and allowances are recurrent expenditures allocated under the 2017 Appropriation Act. Hon. Chinda also described the situation as a shame, where the police who ordinarily should provide security for the citizens could openly protest, fully armed with guns, leaving the people they should secure in great fear. He therefore called for an investigation of the matter. He stated that the protest represented the failure of the Nigerian public institutions (including the Nigeria Police Force) and expressed worries about the consequent effect on the country’s reputation.
Contributing to the motion, the Minority Whip of the House, Hon. Yakubu Barde (PDP-Kaduna) recalled that the National Assembly had earlier passed a vote of no confidence on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) analyzed the protest as an additional vote of no confidence passed on the IGP by his subordinates. He added that the IGP’s actions may one day lead to police officers refusing to go on special duties; leaving the Nigerian public deserted. He also called for the Ad-hoc Committee to determine how the money allocated for officers’ welfare was utilized and why they had not been paid.
