Retirees of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) from across the South-west states numbering about 600 at the weekend alerted that the federal government is owing them about N2 billion cumulative, promotion and national housing fund allowances.
The NSCDC retirees from across the South-west states raised the alarm in Ibadan while staging a protest over unpaid allowances since they were disengaged from service some years ago.
Addressing newsmen during the protest, chairman of the Association of Civil Defense Corps Pensioners Welfare, Mr Morgan James, and his secretary of the association, Mr Olaleye Moshood, stated that since 2014, the NSCDC authorities was yet to pay any of the retirees their disengagement allowances as a result of which many had died waiting for their legitimate allowances.
“Housing fund that was deducted from our salaries is yet to be paid to many of the retirees between 2016 and 2019. Many of the retirees are daily dying of hunger and are unable to buy drugs they need to treat their failing health,” they said.
The NSCDC retirees’ spokesperson added that even though their letters of promotion were given to them, they were not paid their entitlement as required by the public service rules.
According to them, in a letter dated January 18, 2018, and addressed to the Commandant General NSCDC, details of the unpaid allowances were specified but till date, there has been no response from the headquarters, adding that as a result of their persistence, the Public Complaints Commission in a letter marked PCC/OY/2018/8/108-121/57, called the attention of the Commandant-General particularly to the national housing fund contributions, which the retirees claimed had either been short-paid or not paid at all.
They stressed that after writing to the head office of a bank in Abuja, the bank management replied that “they did not receive the retirees’ refund applications even though they claimed to have registered individually” and that the bank also stated that “your organisation did not remit the NHF contributions of your personnel for certain months thereby making it impossible for the bank to remit appropriately to those concerned.”
