CLO threatens to sue Nigerian Govt over non-payment of salaries of Immigration officers
The Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, has threatened to sue the Federal Government over the non-payment of immigration officers who are serving in different countries abroad.
The rights organization said the officers have not been aid for 14 months.
DAILY POST reports that the officers
have been crying out over non-payment of their salaries since last year, saying the development has caused them suffering and untold hardship.
Some of the officers said they have relocated their families back to Nigeria as they can’t take care of them in a foreign land.
Reacting to the situation on Thursday, the, and Executive Director of the CLO, Steve Aluko, who spoke in Jos, said the non-payment of salaries is unfortunate as it does not speak well of the nation and the government.
Aluko said, “The Civil Liberties Organisation has its history of taking on national and international issues that have to do with the rights of people. In this sense, our interest here is the abuse of process, abuse of confidence, and abuse of trust on the part of the government.
“Owing immigration officers on foreign mission for 14 months brings a lot of harshness, a lot of trouble, dysfunction in their family life, and it leads to loss of property and loss of livelihood in some instances. So, 14 months is simply not an issue to be ignored.
“And this is coming from the government that just stated that it has met its revenue target for the year, and here they are owing their own federal staff and international staff.
“This is regrettable, and to us in the Civil Liberties Organization, we totally condemn it. I will say it’s unacceptable of a government that came with a renew hope agenda to move the country to another level.
“The security implication is that if the immigration on foreign missions are being owned for 14 months, it will open the floodgate for criminality. Globally, the fight against terrorism starts with people that check in and out of the country. And Immigration plays a very critical role in the fight against terrorism.
“If you don’t pay them, and their families suffer, you are indirectly making them vulnerable to all sorts of abuses and forms of possible international espionage that can even sell a lot of critical information about the country.
“So, it is very important that their interest becomes a national interest that must be addressed promptly and speedily without further delay. And as a matter of strategy, we won’t say much on this, but let me say that we don’t mind going to court on behalf of the immigration officers because it is their right and they have worked for this 14 months.
“The Federal Government, the minister involved and the minister should be seen to be doing the needful, otherwise will be forced to take other steps within the ambit of the law. But this will be a big minus on the part of the government, if they wait to go to court before the right of these people is being enforced.
“If they are not paid, the minister will be called to question, and we will not even stop at that. We will write the National Assembly to question the minister why he can cater for the capital and recurrent, while the personnel are suffering,” he said.
