Some personnel of the Nigeria Police Force who participated in a foreign mission in Somalia under the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) have expressed frustration over the non-payment of their allowances.
The personnel, numbering 160, were deployed to Somalia from October 16, 2023, to June 14, 2025.
AUSSOM is a peacekeeping operation that began on January 1, 2025, replacing the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
AUSSOM’s primary goal is to support the Somali government in its fight against the insurgent group al-Shabaab and to facilitate the gradual handover of security responsibilities to Somali security forces.
The mission is expected to last for 12 months initially, with a phased approach to achieve full security transfer by December 2029.
One of the affected personnel who spoke to Reporters on condition of anonymity on Friday, said, “After going on a foreign mission called the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia from October 16, 2023, to June 14, 2025, with the Nigerian police, they have not paid us. To date, we have not been paid a dime.”
The police officer revealed that they were supposed to receive a monthly allowance of 734 euros (approximately N1.3 million). The source alleged that although they had learned the European Union and African Union had paid for their services, they themselves had yet to receive any payment.
“Information reaching us indicates the European Union has cleared everything,” the office said, expressing concern over the delay in receiving their allowances since they returned to Nigeria in June.
The officer doubted the police authorities would pay their allowances, citing corruption in the system.
Another police officer who spoke to Reporters revealed that despite not being paid their monthly allowances, none of them had been promoted to the next rank as expected.
“While we were there, the United Nations took good care of us, especially in terms of logistics. However, there are levels of responsibilities. In terms of payment of allowances, it is our country that takes responsibility,” the police officer said.
“For the 20 months we spent in Somalia, not a single person from Nigeria in the contingent was paid a dime. It’s not that the money wasn’t released to the Nigerian police authority by the European Union, which funded it,” he said.
“Worse still, some of us lost our parents during the mission, and now that we’ve returned, the authorities won’t pay us. We were supposed to be promoted after we returned, following the recommendations from the UN office that supervised the mission.
“But as we speak, none of us has been promoted. We are supposed to be celebrated because our contingent performed excellently during the mission.”
One of the police sources revealed that they are considering resigning from the Force and looking for other opportunities where they would be better appreciated.
Meanwhile, efforts by Reporters to speak with the police authorities were unsuccessful.
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