Security personnel in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, may no longer get the special allowance that they were usually paid as President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly ordered to stoppage of the allowance.
According to reports, personnel posted to the villa were paid between twenty five thousand and seventy five thousand naira as special allowance, depending on their ranks.
A source told Punch that the ADC to the President, Lieutenant Colonel Muhammed Abubakar informed the security sectional heads in the villa to clear the air on rumours of embezzlement making the rounds since the allowance stopped coming.
“About two weeks ago, an assistant superintendent of one of the agencies called us and told us that the ADC met all the heads of the security agencies in the Villa where the news was broken to them.
“Our own head also met us and warned us to desist from carrying rumours about the money. He said that the ADC told them that no money was being released to the guards, as being speculated.”
According to the Punch, the matter is being looked into. A source told the newspaper that the office of the NSA had been mandated to look into the matter and report to the Presidency on the matter.
“The report is true, but I can tell you that the matter is being looked into and I can tell you that we are going to do something about it,” the source added.
The story became more interesting as the Punch quoted a retired Commissioner of Police as endorsing the stoppage of the special allowance because according to him, officers on the other assignments and on the road get do not get extra income and so, paying those in the Villa will amount to ‘buying their conscience.’
But a former DSS Director, Mike Ejiofor, disagreed. He argued that the Presidential Villa “is a special beat” which come with peculiar challenges and demands. Mr. Ejiofor insisted that it should attract extra stipends for the security men serving there.
