Some junior officers of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), formerly known as Nigerian Prisons Service, are quietly protesting an order they say basically force them to source for uniforms from the open market. The officers say they received a memo to wear the new uniform for their upcoming promotional examination (scheduled to hold between Monday July 1and Saturday, July 6, 2024).
The officers say while their senior colleagues got uniforms for free, the same gesture has not been extended to them.
One of the officers who spoke anonymously said “The NCS changed its uniform in 2019, and since then, there has been a gradual phase-out of the old uniform. It started with the Controller-General to the Chief Superintendents of Corrections free according to plan, and it stopped.
“Now, they are forcing other officers to get the uniform from the open market when the due allocation was made for free distribution of the uniform and other accoutrements.
“They are now using the upcoming promotion interview to activate this enforcement.”
Another officer echoed the same sentiment saying, “They always wait for promotion interview time to implement such draconian policies.
“The said uniform is not being given free as promised. It is not available in our command stores nationwide. Officers are resorting to self-help by buying in the open market. This is bad.”
Another officer noted that the service personnel have four different uniforms, lamenting that in the market, a uniform “costs ₦4,000 per trouser length, and we are using three trouser lengths for one complete uniform. So, we need a minimum of ₦12,000 to buy the materials for one complete set of uniforms.”
He alleged that some people got the materials of the new uniforms “from the central store and gave them out to some others to sell for them.”
When contacted, the spokesman for NCS, Abubakar Umar said, “The true position of the Service is that from Level 7 (junior officers) downwards, they are not only given free uniforms but also the accoutrements and the jungle boots, while the senior officers buy their uniforms.”
“(The Controller-General) never asked anyone to go to the open market to buy uniforms. As long as it’s available, it’ll be distributed,” while noting that the supply of the new uniforms which were launched in 2022 is “still ongoing considering the number of staff we have. So, it’s being shared in phases.”
On whether officers who show up for accreditation and are not dressed in the new uniforms would be allowed to participate, the NCS spokesman said, “I’m not aware of that stringent measure put in place. I can’t speak on that.
“Before now, they (officers) knew that the distribution of uniforms is according to the ranks, down the ladder. It will be a kind of mischief for somebody to say because the screening and promotion examinations are around the corner; they are now using that as cheap publicity and not appreciating the Controller-General’s efforts.”
