No fewer than 1,300 officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), affected by the downsizing exercise in 2006, have appealed to the Federal Government for the payment of their entitlements.

In a statement issued on Monday in Ilorin by Abdullahi Sulaiman on their behalf, the officers said that government’s inability to pay them had brought untold hardships to their families.

The statement said that 40 of the affected officers were from Kwara. The retirees stated that their gratuity and pension were not based on the Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (COMPASS).

Sulaiman said that this was unlike their colleagues in Customs and Prisons Services who were also affected by the same restructuring.

He said that those categories of officers were being paid, based on the COMPASS structure, noting that all entreaties made by the affected officers nationwide to the immigration authorities had proved abortive.

“The Nigeria Immigration Service did not follow the Federal Government’s directive and guidelines in the computation and payment of our entitlements.

“This was the reason immigration officers received half of what their Customs and Prisons counterparts got even when the ranks and other factors are the same,” he said.

He, however, appealed to the government to order full investigation into the matter in order to ensure the payment of the short-fall