Uche Usim, Abuja
Over 9000 ghost policemen have been discovered using the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) thus saving the Federal Government several billions of naira.
The inclusion of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) into the IPPIS has revealed that the total number of policemen in the country now stands 291,000 as against over 300,000 usually bandied around in several quarters. A top government source who disclosed this to Daily Sun yesterday said the enlistment of the NPF into the IPPIS has saved the Federal Government billions of naira, which hitherto was unaccounted for.
The source also added that the number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) so far captured on the IPPIS platform as of March 20 this year has risen to 469. The figure indicates that the Federal Government currently has 316,158 staff count with a gross salary of N43,979,383,997.78 annually.
The source said, “the net pay of 42 police commands and formations made via the IPPIS platform in February 2018 with staff count of 291,685 translated to a gross salary of N22.2 billion .
“You never can tell, the N68 billion saved last year may have come from the Nigeria police commands’ personnel cost. This is despite the increase in the number of personnel of Nigeria police including 10,000 newly recruited and yet, the total pay still dropped drastically.
“You would recall an episode that happened in the past when police personnel demonstrated in Abuja and Port Harcourt against the move to enlist police personnel into the IPPIS.
“Those protests in Port Harcourt and Abuja were stage managed by top hierarchy in the force benefitting from over bloated personnel. They really showed initial resistance to IPPIS before realising that this current government was bent on running an efficient and transparent financial system at all levels and across all agencies. In the current IPPIS, the police personnel receive their salary as and when due,” he explained.
With regard to other paramilitary agencies like the Nigeria Immigrations Service, Nigeria Prisons Service and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, their total enrolment as at March 22 was put at 100,822.
Recall that in 2017, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris, applauded the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for embracing IPPIS and other public finance reform initiatives unveiled by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).
Idris spoke when he received the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, who was at the Treasury House on a courtesy visit, in Abuja.
The AGF confirmed to the IG of police that the police had been fully integrated into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and are currently being enrolled on the IPPIS platform, which, according to him, would help to effectively manage the wage burden of the government.