The report reaching us now suggest that there is an ongoing protest along the Maiduguri-Kano expressway, as some officers of the Nigerian Police Force are protesting what they called the non-payment of salaries and allowance by the authorities. The protest as it is being reported has caused heavy traffic along that road, and vehicular movements have been halted due to the protest.
According to the report by News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the officers have not been paid their allowance for the last six months. Speaking to one of the protesting officers, he said:
“About 10, 000 mobile policemen were deployed to the state from different commands but we have not received our allowances in the past six months.
“We have been serving at the command headquarters since our deployment, but some of us deployed to other locations outside the headquarters were being paid their allowances as and when due. “We have been facing hardships as a result of the non-payment of the allowances. We have made several complaints but nobody listened to us,” the officer was quoted to have said.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Damian Chukwu who refuted the claims that the officers were protesting said they only came to confirm whether their allowance is ready while blaming the delay of the non-payment the late passage of the 2018 budget. He called on the protesting policemen to calm down and assured them that their allowances would be paid.