CG NSCDC committed to staff welfare, development —Spokesperson

THE Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Abdullahi Gana, is committed to the staff welfare, training and development of the Corps.

Public Relations Officer of NSCDC, Mr Emmanuel Okeh, said this in Abuja while reacting to allegation of fraud and misappropriation of funds levelled against the commandant-general by some aggrieved personnel who felt shortchanged due to some deductions in their salaries.

He said contrary to the allegation, the CG was committed to the welfare of personnel and has been doing all he could to improve the lot of the Corps.

A few weeks after the payment of January salary by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation through Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPIS), some personnel of the corps took to the social media and other platforms to accuse the CG of shortchanging them.

But Okeh said he needed to set the record straight, noting that the business of salary payment is that of the Accountant-General of the Federation and not that of the CG of the NSCDC.

He said: “It is, therefore, unfair to accuse the corps leadership of tampering with the salary of the personnel when in actual fact, the CG is making concerted effort to ensure better welfare packages and other deliverables for his personnel because they are his topmost priority.

“On the alleged embezzled fund, the deductions experienced in January salary by some personnel of the corps were carried out exclusively by IPPIS to recover all the funds overpaid  by them to some staff in December due to system error and now, IPPIS has deducted the overpayment in full back to government coffers.

The commandant-general is, therefore, cautioning his personnel especially those who are not well informed to endeavour to seek information from the right sources and avoid hearsay whenever issues are not clear to them rather than casting aspersion on its leadership which stood firm to ensure that the corps partake in the minimum wage and  arrears payment in December last year.

“The administration of Abdullahi Gana is committed to staff welfare, training and manpower development among others and will continue to do its best to sustain the good name of the organization.

“The allegation of fraud and embezzlement of personnel’s salary is totally unfair, baseless and unfounded and, therefore, should be disregarded,” he said.

Okeh explained that the salary deduction was not peculiar to NSCDC and other paramilitary services but it also affected some core civil servants as well, saying the IPPIS office was open for anyone who might require further clarifications.