The federal government has paid the severance benefits of 885 Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS) officers disengaged from service in 2006/2007, Dasuki Arabi, director-general of the Bureau of Public Service (BPSR), has said.

Mr Arabi disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.

He said that the outstanding benefits were paid to all the 885 officers who presented themselves for verification out of the 1,330 disengaged from the service.

He explained that only 17 officers who were verified could not be paid because of inconsistencies in their account details, adding that their issue was being handled by the stakeholders’ committee

“The NIS is one of the over 250 federal parastatals that was affected by the severance policy of the 2006/2007 reform programme of the Federal Government across the Public Service.

“In the course of the severance exercise, a total of 1,330 NIS officers in various cadres and grade levels were disengaged.”

Mr Arabi said that efforts to resolve the problem since 17 years ago became a hard nut to crack following several complaints, agitations and petitions from several quarters by the disengaged officers.

He listed the agitations as including effecting the salary scale of CONPASS as against HAPSS to be used as it was used for sister agencies such as Nigerian Customs Service and Nigerian Prisons Service, further creating more agitations and complaints.

Mr Arabi, however, said that with the unrelenting efforts of BPSR and other stakeholders, the problem had been resolved.

He said that in an effort to resolve the problem, a verification exercise was carried out from Nov. 27, 2023, across the six geo-political zones starting from the South-West (Lagos Centre), which ended at the North Central in Abuja centre on Jan. 20, 2024.

“This achievement serves as a beacon of hope for other parastatals and MDAs facing similar challenges. Let us continue to work together to address these issues and build a more just and equitable public service for all,” he said.

He explained that it had been difficult to get in touch with some of the affected officers or their next of kin because some of their submitted records were no longer valid, and some had changed their locations, among other factors.

Mr Arabi pledged that the commission was committed to ensuring other disengaged officers or their next of kin, who had yet to be paid, received whatever was due to them in the shortest time whenever they presented themselves for verification.

He advised the National Association of Retired Immigration Officers to continue to work with the commission and other agencies of government to help trace the outstanding beneficiaries and ensure that they get what was due to them.

Ola Gbadamosi, the national chairman, National Association of Retired Immigration Officers, commended the federal government and Mr Arabi for the successful payment of the association members.

Mr Gbadamosi said that they had gone to several places but made no progress until they came to BPSR, adding that the payment came at a time when some of their members already lost hope.

He appealed to the commission to continue to assist those yet to have their benefits paid.

“So, we are appealing to BPSR to continue to assist us so that this money for that 17 years will not go like that and then to make sure that the salary is harmonised alongside our sister’s services like Prisons and Customs.

“The immigration money is different. Where an inspector in prison collects N76,000 while my own inspector collects N29,000/ N30,000,” Mr Gbadamosi said.

He said that he had some members, about 48, who said they were already in court, while some late officers with more than one wife had disagreements on who to be paid.

He said their names would be forwarded for payment once they reached a compromise.

Also, the spouses of two late disengaged officers who have yet to receive payment after the verification exercise, Ayodele Tolulope and Promise Atuekwe, urged the commission to help fast-track their payment.

(NAN)