Due to months of unpaid salaries, members of two armed civilian security organisations in a freshly resettled region in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, have resigned from their positions. According to the paramilitaries, they are also protesting conditions that endanger their life.
In June 2022, Kirawa, in Borno State’s Gwoza local government area, underwent a resettlement. Since then, the Cameroonian-Nigerian border village has remained a perilous location where residents require ongoing security.
The two groups claim that at least ten of their members have left and that many more are dissatisfied.
As many as 40 Kirawa Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) members as well as 40 Kirawa vigilantes and hunters have complained that they haven’t received pay in more than a year.
Additionally, they complain about not having enough ammunition to fully protect themselves.
There is a Nigerian military base in Kirawa in addition to the civilian security organisations. They usually collaborate to safeguard the neighborhood.
According to AcBaba Muhammad, the Kirawa CJTF’s chairman, the 80-person team has only recently received its three-month stipend since beginning work in December 2019. That equates to nearly 13 months without pay.
Baba said “We came to Kirawa on December 14, 2019. Since that time up to date, we only received an allowance payment of three months and that is N10,000 naira for each month. We have not stopped working despite the situation.”
“Every day is a complaint day, some of us that could not bear the lack of payment have abandoned the work and travelled to Lagos to hustle. We have complained severally to our stakeholders but nothing is done,” Baba said.
“We have families and without the money, we and our families are suffering, there is nothing we could do about it,” he added.
Another issue facing the groups is an inadequate supply of ammunition. Commenting on this matter, the chairman said that they only get a short supply of ammunition after two months. Even if they get it, they get exhausted on time.
“We have about fifty short rifles and each takes eight bullets. With all these numbers of rifles, we only get four packs which have a hundred bullets. Tell me, how can we share it with all the rifles we have? The worst case is, we don’t even get that on time,” Baba said.
He added that “It takes a very long time to even get that two packs, months to three months sometimes.”