Court orders IGP, police commission to pay police constabularies 4 years salary arrears

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Nigeria Police Service Commission to pay Police Constabularies about four years salaries arrears being owed them since 2021.
By the judgement, each of the Constabules is to be paid N54, 566 per month from January 2021 to May 2024.
Justice Rakiya Haastrup gave the order on Wednesday while delivering judgment in a suit instituted by the Constabularies against the IGP and the Police Service Commission.
Apart from the salary payment, the Judge also ordered that letters of employment and Certificate of engagement be issued to the Constabularies having trained them, provided them with uniforms, boots and lawfully deployed them to the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory FCT.
The suit was instituted by a Senior Advocate of Nigerian SAN, Senastine Hon on behalf of the Constabularies.
The plaintiffs who were trained and engaged on community policing through intelligence gathering had through their lawyer, Sebastine Hon SAN had sued the police for refusing to pay them their monthly stipends despite making them serve the nation diligently for the past four years.
Contrary to the claims of Police that the services of the Constabularies were voluntarily, the plaintiffs claimed and tendered documents showing that at the time of their engagement, the police had agreed to give them monthly stipends commensurate to the basic allowance of a Constable in the Nigeria police force.
The Constabularies alleged that the action of police in denying them the stipends was not only lawful but had put their lives in jeopardy as they could no longer meet with basic needs of life.
They therefore urged the court that having been lawfully engaged by police, they are entitled to the monthly stipends to enable them perform their duties effectively and diligently.
Besides, they claimed that due to hazardous nature of the jobs, seven of their members have already died.
In her judgment, Justice Rakiya Haastrup agreed with Senastine Hon SAN that the plaintiffs have established that their is contractual agreement of employment relationship between them and police.
The Judge held that based on the agreement, the plaintiffs are entitled to the monthly stipends for their job.