Agonies of female NSCDC officers
CG accused of breaking marriages with highhanded policies
BY BARTH EMEKA
Marriages of female officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), are collapsing rapidly following the postings and re-postings going on at the headquarters of the agency.
The Saturday Times, in the course of filing this report, had discussions with some female officers in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and Rivers States, and many shared their bitterness over the policy, which is heavily rubbing off on their emotional stability. According to them, there are serious threats to their marriages on account of this.
The ladies complained to The Saturday Times that they are losing their husbands to ‘side chicks’ and ‘Single Mamas’.
Interestingly, the Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC), Ahmed Abubakar Audi, is being blamed for the highhanded policy, which plays down family considerations when postings of married officers are done; and this has often paved way for tension in marriages.
According to them, although married female officers are statutorily entitled to working closer to their spouses and families, Ahmed Audi has consistently flouted this norm since he assumed office, as married female officers are transferred at will to far-flung locations, forcing some of them to either resign or comply.
The Saturday Times equally gathered that female officers, who accept to make the trip to their new far location, end up not getting their allowances and requisite emoluments. “If you ask around, many people will tell you this. What is the decency in asking a married woman living in Abuja with her family to go to Borno or Anambra or resign? And even when they go, despite the inconveniences and hardships, they are denied their allowances which we call ‘twenty days’”, asked one of the officers. According to her similar petitions had been made to former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. “At a time the complaints were handled by former vice President, but the assurances that the emoluments would be paid has not been met. It is a pathetic situation.”
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It appears the female officers are not the only ones irked by the CG’s disposition to the affairs at NSCDC. A civil society group has called out the CG on certain maladies allegedly going on unchecked in the NSCSC, which include: withholding training allowances of officers after trainings, promotion racketeering and nepotism amongst others. The group, Conference of Harmonized Civil Society Organisations (CHSCON), is seeking an immediate removal of the CG.
Convener of CHSCON, Otunba Adebayo Femi in a statement made available to journalists, maintained that Mr. Audi’s tenure should come to an end now considering the things that have happened under him, including an incident that led to a confrontation between the agency and NUPENG in Rivers State, where men of NSCDC were accused of misappropriating the products of NUPENG members.
According to him, “Promotion is not done in batches, or seniority basis but on who knows man or cash. Or until one approaches retirement like few months or weeks to retirement before they promote the person as commandant, and this benefits no one, it’s useless to the person promoted because he/she gains nothing from it. Southerners fall under this categories of commandants.”
However, some of the personnel are in support of Audi. A senior officer who offered to speak anonymously because he was not authorized to talk, said Audi was only trying to enthrone discipline in the system. “Truth is that certain people for want of what to do try to resist any change. But they should know that change is constant in life. Audi is one of the best things in NSCDC. Quote me, but anonymously”, he said.
