The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it has written to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, where the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) is domiciled, to stop the salary of its operatives who allegedly extorted a road user of N100,000 in Cross River State.
The Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Shehu Mohammed, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES.
|
|
“We don’t control our salary. But what we can do is to notify the IPPIS office to stop this person’s salary. So, the salary has already been stopped,” Mr Mohammed said.
This newspaper had reported that the operative absconded from duty and was declared AWOL by the corps.
|
|
|
|---|
The corps marshal explained that the process of dismissing the operative from services begins once he is placed on desertion, which begins after 21 days of being declared AWOL.
“By dismissal, it means that he cannot get any other public job anywhere in this country. So, we are looking towards that,” he said.
He said while the FRSC cannot access the accused account to pay the extorted road user, it can stop his salary, “which we have done.”
Mr Mohammed added that the corps would not release the accused’s entitlements until the extorted amount is deducted and returned.
He said: “We have what we call the Post Service Scheme, where every staff member contributes to. We have that already. So if he resurfaces after the dismissal and he wants to access that money, we must take that N100,000 from him.
“Even if he’s on loan, we must take all the loans that are associated with him to recover those funds before giving him whatever is left.”
Background
In June, PREMIUM TIMES reported that a Nigerian journalist, Agba Jalingo, in a Facebook post, accused officials of the corps in Calabar, Cross River State, of extorting money from a driver for not wearing a seatbelt.
Shortly after the sector command began an investigation into the allegation, the Corps Marshal, Mr Mohammed, ordered that the case be transferred to the corps’ headquarters in Abuja for thorough investigation.
In July, the FRSC spokesperson, Olusegun Ogungbemide, told PREMIUM TIMES that the corps’ Intelligence Department had narrowed the investigation to one official, as the driver had alleged.
Mr Ogungemide later told our reporter on 1 August that the official had absconded and had been declared absent without leave (AWOL).
Discover more from Premium Times Nigeria
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
