Immigration officers seek Tinubu’s intervention on salary arrears

Some immigration officers who were recruited in August 2023 have said the service has yet to pay them seven months’ salary arrears.

The affected officers, whose employment letters are dated August 15, 2023, said they were not paid between August 2023 and February 2024, despite being captured on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

The officers said they resumed induction training in Abuja from September to December 2023, but the service only started paying them in March 2024.

Some of the officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalists, said they were entitled to be paid for August, September, October, November, and December 2023, as well as January and February 2024 salary arrears.

Saturday PUNCH had on July 6 this year, reported that the immigration officers were still waiting to be paid their salary arrears 10 months after recruitment.

Responding to the inquiry at the time, the Public Relations Officer of the NIS, Kenneth Udo, said the nonpayment of the arrears was an omission from the IPPIS.

Udo said the NIS was following up on the omission with the IPPIS, promising that the officers would be paid in July.

He stated, “We will surely rectify it; hopefully, by the end of this month (July), the affected officers will receive their money. It is going to be rectified; we are on top of it.”

However, the affected officers have not been paid three months after the promise.

Rather, the officers claimed that those who were recruited after them had been paid their salary arrears in full.

One of the officers serving at the Ikoyi command of the NIS said, “Those of us who received employment letters in August 2024, under former Comptroller General Wura Adepoju, have yet to be paid our salary arrears, whereas those who were employed by the current CG, Kemi Nandap, have been paid their salaries in full, including six months’ arrears.”

The officers urged President Tinubu to intervene and ensure that they are not cheated out of their entitlements.

However, Udo, the NIS Spokesperson, assured the affected officers that they would be paid, saying the service was working on it.