Nairobi — The Nigerian Police Force is not only failing to pay all the financial benefits owed to the families of their officers killed in action against Boko Haram militants, but in some cases sexual favours and kickbacks have been demanded of the widows in return for the dues they did receive, according to new research in the northern city of Kano's police command.
The study, by the Kano-based Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, presents the results of interviews with nine widows of policemen who had been based in Bompai and Hotoro barracks. It found six had been paid funeral allowances and their husbands' pensions, one had received just the pension, and two of the nine had been granted neither funeral allowance or pension payment. None of the widows had received their husband's gratuity - a potentially sizeable lump sum depending on his years of service.
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