Officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have accused the leadership of the paramilitary agency of persistent welfare failures, including irregular salary payments, unpaid promotion arrears and withheld allowances, allegations the corps’ headquarters has strongly denied.
Multiple serving officers, who spoke to PLATFORM TIMES on condition of anonymity, said the situation had worsened in recent months, leaving thousands of personnel demoralised and financially distressed.
According to them, salary payments have become unpredictable, with some officers paid while others are left unpaid for months without explanation.
“What has become common in the last seven months is that some people receive their salaries while others do not. Some officers are still owed for December 2025,” a source said.
Another officer alleged that salaries are sometimes delayed across different banks, a development he described as unacceptable in a structured government agency.
“Usually everyone should receive salaries at the same time, but in NSCDC it is not like that. The money just drops at different times, and nobody explains,” he said.
Some personnel further alleged that access to salaries sometimes depends on personal connections or repeated complaints to supervisors.
“If you don’t ask or you don’t have connections, you may lose that month’s salary,” an officer claimed.
Beyond monthly pay, officers accused the management of failing to settle promotion-related entitlements and other wage allowances, despite official claims that such arrears had been paid.
“The wage allowances they said they paid have not been received. Even promotion arrears are still outstanding,” another source said.
Several officers said the delays were particularly painful during the festive period, noting that many personnel were unable to celebrate Christmas with their families due to unpaid December salaries.
“In December, quite a lot of staff did not receive salaries. Some were only paid in the second week of January, and now January salary is still being withheld for many,” one officer lamented.
Officers also raised concerns over suspicious transaction descriptions attached to salary payments, alleging that some narrations do not reflect staff remuneration.
“There are times you see strange descriptions like ‘clearing agent’ instead of salary. It raises serious questions,” a source said.
PLATFORM TIMES further learnt that promotion arrears dating back to 2022 remain unpaid for thousands of personnel nationwide, with some officers claiming they were promoted as far back as 2023 but only received partial payments in 2025, leaving substantial balances unsettled.
In January 2026, some NSCDC personnel had similarly accused the leadership of failing to disburse billions of naira meant for promotion entitlements and operational allowances, including funds for officers deployed for election duties.
However, the NSCDC headquarters has dismissed the claims as false and misleading, insisting that the Commandant-General, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, does not control salary or promotion payments.
In a statement issued on January 29, 2026, and signed by the National Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commandant of Corps Afolabi Babawale, the corps described the allegations as “baseless, malicious and a campaign of calumny.”
“The payment of salary arrears, promotion arrears and other emoluments falls under the Presidential Committee on Arrears, chaired by the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation and the Accountant-General of the Federation, and not the NSCDC,” the statement said.
The corps said when Audi assumed office in 2021, he inherited five years of unpaid arrears from 2015 to 2019, adding that over 37,000 personnel had since benefited from payments following sustained engagement with relevant authorities.
It further disclosed that arrears covering 2020 to 2022 had already been approved and forwarded to the Office of the Accountant-General for disbursement through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), while arrears for 2023 and 2024 were still awaiting budgetary approval and presidential clearance.
But officers who spoke insisted that many personnel were yet to receive any promotion-related payments, warning that continued delays could further erode morale and operational effectiveness within the corps.
“If this is not urgently addressed, it will continue throughout the year and worsen the hardship on officers and their families,” one source said.
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