Even though the Bayelsa gubernatorial election was held on Saturday, November 11, it has been over five weeks, and some Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) employees who were assigned to the poll have not yet received their allowances.

SaharaReporters was informed by those NIS agents who took part in the election that most of them are still awaiting payment. They said they paid for their participation in the election themselves and expected to be reimbursed.

These officers are stressing the need of preventing any potential misbehavior by pleading with the NIS officials to guarantee transparency and immediately release their allowances.

“We want to use this platform to address the issue of election allowances for the recent gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State,” said one of the impacted officers in response to the situation. The NIS has not yet paid us, but the Police have received their allowances.

“November 11, 2023 was election day, and we still haven’t gotten our money back. It looks like a few people at the top could have embezzled these cash, and our worries could not be taken seriously for a while. We implore the Interior Minister and the NIS officials to keep their word and see to it that our allowances are paid. We sincerely hope that this is not yet another instance of broken promises, as has been the custom.

“Although no specific amount was guaranteed, NIS personnel at the state level received N90,000 each during the previous general elections, while those at the headquarters were granted amounts ranging from N200,000 to N300,000,” stated another member of the staff. It is notable that after multiple reports by SaharaReporters, they were forced to pay.

Every employee in the state of Bayelsa receives N100,000 in 2019. Similarly, money has supposedly been set aside for this purpose, but there’s a chance it will go unnoticed if your platform doesn’t draw attention to this information. As of right now, there is no evidence that these cash would be disbursed, and the problem appears to be going away, which could allow powerful people in the system to misuse the funds for their own benefit.