CLO Decries Non-payment Of Foreign Missions Immigration Officers’ 15-month Salaries

There has been disquiet in several quarters among the officers of the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) following varied complaints of what they termed disruptions in foreign missions duty as well as lack of salary payments.

LEADERSHIP reports that the situation has led to the intervention of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) which said it learnt of the plight of the officers.

The executive director of the organisation, Steve Aluko, told newsmen in Jos, Plateau State that officers who had been posted for over two years had not yet proceeded to their respective countries, raising  a serious concern.

According to the director, even the immigration attachés said they no longer know their fate, as there were strong indications of plans to replace them with other officers who had connections with those in authority.

Besides, Aluko said there was also a plot to recall the 2023 posted officers without paying them over 14 months’ allowances in order  to pave the way for the preferred officers.

He said, “Even more unfortunate was that some of these officers were going to be recycled as reposting having served their statutory one term.

“In fact, one of those pushing for this agenda is currently serving for his second posting after being cross posted to another country for a fresh duty tour.

“This is the highest level of injustice and we won’t allow it. Many of the new attaches have been left hanging, others have their postings withdrawn and reallocated to close allies of senior officers,” he said.

“We are therefore requesting for an immediate investigation and intervention to ensure due process, fairness, before any new postings are effected,” he said.

Regarding the non-payment of salaries of those at foreign mission, Aluko said information available to them is that since 2024, the officers have been lamenting about the irregular payment of their salaries, which has caused them suffering and untold hardship.

And now, he said, they are raising alarm because of the alleged grand plot to return them back home without paying their entitlements, and that the CLO don’t want to wait until that happens before they cry out, adding that is why they are raising the alarm now.

“I believe many people in the country are following up with the situation of immigration attachés for a while now. In these last three years, immigration officers at foreign missions have the most rated high level of professionalism and  service ethics, yet they have suffered untold hardship due to lack of payment of salaries.

“Let’s make the point clear. We are not asking the immigration service to keep the officers on foreign mission because the very first time they were sent on foreign mission, they know that there is a timeline.

“If the government pays them their money and asks them to come back tomorrow, they will, and that will be understood as having completed their duty tour. All we are asking however, is for government to pay them their entitlements before returning them home.

“If the government don’t do so, it will bring a great embarrassment to the service and cause a whole lot of issues for foreign missions, going forward.

“We also gathered that many of the officers are  owing a lot of debt, like house rents, children’s school fees, hospital bills and other service providers. So how can they return home while they have not been paid their outstanding salaries in order to settle their debts,” Aluko stated.

He called on other stakeholders to intervene at this point, that is the Federal Ministry of Interior, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Adviser, the Accountant General, Federal Ministry of Finance and that even the Chief of Staff to the President needs to know of this situation.

“In all these hardships they are facing, they have continued to  demonstrate a high level of professionalism and have not compromised their jobs on any front. This is because there has not been any report of misconduct, extortion or financial embarrassment among the officers that we have ever heard or known.

“Remember, all the international engagements between Nigeria and other countries either at government level, at corporate level or at individual level, they are the ones facilitating such engagements, and therefore they are not supposed to be rewarded in this way.

“This is apart from the direct revenue they are generating for the government. In fact, immigration is the highest revenue generating desk in every foreign mission.

“And this is also apart from how much they are saving Nigerians in terms of cost of issuing passports. Rather than traveling to Nigeria to process passports, they do process it for Nigerians abroad, thereby saving them traveling cost and a whole lot of other logistics,” he added.

The director stressed that immigration are not the only ones in this foreign mission, as there are other outfits and agencies at foreign missions in different embassies, but the immigration are the only ones in this quagmire.

But in a swift reactions by the Immigration service through its spokesperson, A.S. Akinlabi, it insisted that the matter was administrative and that affected personnel had already been mobilised for deployment.

He urged the affected officers and other stakeholders to remain calm, assuring that the outstanding payments would be addressed as they are entitled to what they work for.

Akinlabi stressed the importance of immigration personnel to national security, including counter-terrorism operations, adding that outstanding entitlements of the affected officers will be met before they are recalled from foreign missions.