Nigerian army denies illegal deduction of soldiers’ salaries

The Nigerian Army has denied reports that the salaries of soldiers in 1 Mechanized Division, Kaduna, had been illegally deducted from.

The division described the report as false and unfounded.

This was contained in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Abdul Usman, a colonel, on Thursday.

The statement reads: “The attention of 1 Division Nigeria Army has been drawn to an online publication carried in Sahara Reporters over illegal deduction of their salaries.

“In the report, it was alleged that soldiers of 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, have cried out that their monthly salaries are being deducted by 1 Division Finance Department without explanation which cut across all the ranks.

“We wish to debunk the entire allegation as contained in the publication and make some clarification on the issue.

“First and foremost, we would like to state that the Nigerian Army pay system is generated from the Finance Headquarters.

“This by implication implies that all information regarding Pay/Allowances is built up in the system and as such, the Division Finance can neither manipulate nor alter any data of a soldier captured in the pay roll.

“The Army has a robust system to address any problem with respect to soldiers’ concerns, including pay issues.

“It is our submission that the allegations are spurious without any iota of truth.

“More so, the allegations are made anonymous which is totally unusual in a military setting.

“Sahara Reporters is hereby strongly advised to always double check such allegations in the interest of justice and fairness,” he said.