Nigerian Navy personnel, especially sub lieutenants and ordinary seamen, have expressed concerns about potential exclusion from January lodging allowances.
Sources within the Navy told FIJ that if these junior officers and ratings are denied their lodging allowances, it will push them further into financial hardship, especially with the housing challenges bedevilling them.
FIJ learnt that this development follows the implementation of the increase in the salaries of public workers, including the military, and the systematic payment of arrears.
Following the approval of the new minimum wage for federal public servants in May 2024, the government announced, months later, that the arrears of the new minimum wage would commence in July 2024.
READ ALSO: Fuel Scarcity: Navy Claims NNPC Has Been Lying About Oil Theft
In December, President Bola Tinubu approved the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS) for officers and enlisted personnel in the Nigerian Armed Forces to improve their welfare.
Under the provisions of the updated HTACOS, all military personnel are entitled to lodging allowances except if they are provided with accommodation.
A part of the document sighted by FIJ reads: “Where government quarters are not provided for and it is not possible to rent private accommodation for an officer, the officer can rent a private accommodation on his own. The Lodging/Rent Subsidy Allowance shall be 40 per cent of his annual consolidated salary.”
FIJ gathered that many officers in the Navy face housing problems due to inadequate barracks accommodation. Consequently, the officers, especially the sub lieutenants and ordinary seamen, depend on lodging allowances to cover rent costs.
“We heard that they want to remove the lodging allowances,” said a military source.
“The IPPIS took it upon itself to break down the arrears into each month to cover up for the large sum of money. Naturally, the new minimum wage is supposed to have an effect on the allowances that we receive, but it seems the navy feels that, based on the large workforce, the ordinary seaman and the sub lieutenant take a large chunk. So, they seem to have reverted to a Nigerian Navy Order (NNO) that states they should not pay sub lieutenants and OS lodging allowances.”
For some of these junior officers and ratings, the impending non-payment is not only unfair but also a clear attack on them.
READ ALSO: Lawyer Among Trio Detained by Navy for 106 Days With No Explanation
A source told FIJ that a similar attempt was made some years ago to exclude these junior officers from lodging allowances, but it was reportedly stopped due to the intervention of officers with influential connections in government.
“Now they want to try the same thing again based on the increment. They know that nobody is going to complain and that everybody will just keep quiet,” he told FIJ.
“Many of us are just waiting for the salary for January to see what will happen. We learnt that these deductions seem to have been entered into the payroll system already. People are apprehensive of the full manifestation in this month’s (January) salary.”
“Note that they have to pay the arrears starting from July based on the new minimum wage implementation. So, if they are going to be paying the outstanding N40,000 arrears for the allowances, it should be close to N300,000 by January. But they want to remove the arrears for lodging allowances and subsequent ones for junior officers and ratings.
“Army just built accommodation for the officers. For a long time now, the Navy does not even have an accommodation for many officers. In Lagos, many ratings stay in slums. In Abuja, many officers stay far away because of lack of accommodation.”
Lodging allowances vary based on rank and professional courses studied. For instance, the lodging allowances for sub lieutenants used to be N90,000. However, based on the increase in salaries, it will be N130,000.
While responding to FIJ’s text message on Monday, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Navy, did not give a direct answer to the specific questions.
He wrote, “The Nigerian Navy was established by an act of parliament in 1956 and for more than 68 years it has operated in line with the Nigerian constitution and other associated law books including the Armed Forces Act CAP A20 LFN 2004 as amended and the HTACOS.
“The Nigerian Navy will continue to follow all constitutional provisions etc. The Nigerian Navy is focused on fulfilling its constitutional mandate as always.”
The post Navy Personnel Fear Impending Exclusion From Lodging Allowance Amid Housing Crisis appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.