No fewer than 1,000 families of deceased Police
officers, owed arrears of pensions and insurance, running into billions of naira,
yesterday, stormed Police Headquarters in Abuja, in protest over their
outstanding entitlements.
Among the protesters were those whose benefactors were
killed in the line of duties and whose money for insurance benefits were seized
by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, during the Mr. Tafa Balogun
saga as Police Inspector-General.
Vanguard learnt that though EFCC had been directed to
release the money, close to N700 million, which had been seized, nothing has so
far happened in the matter.
The protesters, who assembled at the police
headquarters at 7:30a.m., with placards of various inscriptions, chanted “give
us our cheques.”
They said they were incensed on reading an
advertisement placed in a national daily by the police in July, asking the
prospective beneficiaries to come to Abuja for a “final screening.”
Addressing the protesters at Force Headquarters, Deputy
Inspector-General of Police in charge Administration, Mr. Suleiman Fakai,
assured the next of kins of the deceased police officers that they will soon be
paid.
He explained that the delay in payment was due to late
release of funds as state commands that were invited to Abuja failed to
streamline processes of payment to beneficiaries.
He said: “We had a minor problem because the benefits
(pension of dead officers) were not paid and now government has released the
money through Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
“The pension is for between 2004 and 2010. But
unfortunately, the process of streamlining the payment had not been carried out
at the state level, so we invited them here to Abuja.”
He admitted that there was communication gap between
police authorities and the beneficiaries, noting that they had been prevailed
upon to go back to their respective states after completing the process, and
await the payment.