Civilian staff members of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Nigeria are unhappy with how they are being treated by the military leadership of the agency, an official of the agency has alleged in an open letter to President Bola Tinubu.
The anonymous official alleged that they have not received the N35,000 salary increment approved by the President in August 2023 for all workers in the employ of the Federal Government.
This increment was meant to alleviate the hardship caused by the removal of petroleum subsidy, but the civilian staff member said they have not received it since the commencement of the payment in September 2023 to date, while their military counterparts have been receiving theirs.
Demanding equal treatment and payment of the salary increment to end their suffering, the source disclosed this in the letter, stating that “till today, Mr President, not a single DIA civilian intelligence staff has been paid a dime from the approved palliative, not even for a single month”.
According to allegations, the Federal Government has discovered that the DIA inflated the number of civilian intelligence personnel on the list for the payment of the palliative, forcing the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the payment.
“This alleged discrepancy is reportedly the reason behind the Federal Government’s reluctance to disburse the payment to the DIA civilian staff,” said the staff member in the letter which SaharaReporters obtained on Wednesday.
“Till today, the military component oversees the promotion examinations of the civilian intelligence staff with unsensible discretions transcripted as the DIA Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS), a document which is only applicable to the civilian intelligence staff of the Agency.
The letter further reads, “And because of the ill motive of the military leadership in the DIA, the HTACOS has been reviewed 5 times in only 3 years with almost nothing good in the interest of the civilian intelligence staff.
“Additionally, Mr President, Sir, the salaries and wages of the civilian intelligence staff of the Agency was last reviewed in 2012. This is despite the continuous devaluation of the Naira over the years and the current economic hardship. Even though the total DIA civilian intelligence staff strength is less than 1000.
“On the contrary, the military officers posted to the Agency on tour of duty are placed on monthly and quarterly allowances by the DIA.
“Sometimes, the sum of these allowances is even higher than the basic salary of a good number of the senior civilian intelligence staff of the Agency. This is despite the military personnel getting full complement of their salaries and other allowances from their organic services on monthly basis.
“Mr President, apart from the wages and allowances, the retirement benefit of the civilian intelligence staff of the Agency falls short of human considerations. An Operative on Grade Level 7 who has served the Agency for a period of 35 years, retires with little above N3,000,000 (Three Million Naira) only as gratuity while the retirement package of his contemporary in the military is around N27,000,000 (Twenty-Seven Million Naira).
“More so, the civilian intelligence officers on Grade Level 17 are paid N28,000,000,00 (Twenty-Eight Million Naira) after putting in 35 years of active service while their contemporary in the the Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) go home with significantly huge sums.”
Asking what sought of country treats its defence intelligence officers with such disdain, the source noted that in an effort to improve the retirement benefit of the DIA civilian intelligence staff members, former President Muhammadu Buhari approved the establishment of an autonomous DIA Pension Board, which was meant to be chaired by a senior civilian intelligence officer of the agency.
However, the source alleged that in a quest by the Chief of Defence Intelligence to continue to squander the pension funds of DIA civilian intelligence staff, the Board was relegated to a mere Directorate and a Director appointed with a passive portfolio.
The anonymous writer said, “Relatedly, in August 2023, Mr President, you approved the payment of N35,000 (Thirty-Five Thousand Naira) to all Federal workers for a period of six months in the first instance, starting from 1st September 2023 to alleviate the hardship caused by the removal of petroleum subsidy.”
Further, the source revealed that the military leadership of the DIA has reserved all the strategic placements for themselves including the positions of the Deputy CDI and Director of Administration.
This, the source explained, shows lack of administrative foresight, which has in turn continued to have devastating ramifications on the general administration of the DIA.
The writer added that from January 2023 to date, “six different very senior military officers have been posted to the DIA as Director(s) of Administration”.
The letter further reads, “That is just within a year, Sir. Each of these Directors usually comes to the Agency with different policy objectives which sometimes lead to policy summersault and lack of clarity in the administrative process of the Agency.”
According to the writer, likewise, the position of the Director of Finance is reserved for military officers.
Source: SaharaReporters
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