Ondo Amotekun operatives decry lack of welfare, no appointment letters

The Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun Corps, has been enmeshed in controversy over a lack of adequate and proper welfare for its operatives across the state.

According to sources within the corps, since their years of engagement with the security agency, there have yet to be any formal employment letters issued.

Some of the operatives who craved anonymity disclosed that, due to the nature of their jobs, which most times required them to spend days in the forest, they had never been considered for any form of allowance.

While accusing the corps’ leadership of insincerity with the operations of the agency, the aggrieved operatives revealed the actual number of personnel within the corps had always been shrewd in secrecy, a move they described as a ploy to embezzle funds.

One of the operatives serving in the Central Senatorial District of the state said, “I can confirm that none of us is happy at the moment. The zeal we had when we joined the corps had waned.

“You can imagine the frustration of not being properly engaged as an Amotekun operative. As for the little salary we do get, we have never been considered for any allowance.

“Even when the issue of palliatives was everywhere and the heat of the fuel subsidy was still hot, we were not given anything at all. As a family man, how do they want us to be motivated to continue to put our lives at risk?

“And you know how this place works; no one dares to talk. We are not treated rightly as security operatives. It is sad.”

However, the budget performance report for the state indicated that expenditure for the corps in the first quarter of 2024 was N674 million while the corps received a total sum of N1.5 billion out of the N2.7 billion budget in 2023 and N1.45 billion in 2022.

On the issue, the leadership of the corps in the state stressed that the process of recruiting operatives from the corps is not in tandem with the normal civil service, indicating that a move has begun towards harmonising the salary scheme of the corps with other states in the south-west.

“The recruitment process for the Amotekun Corps, being a paramilitary organisation, is different from that of other civil service organisations. We are, however, trying to have a harmonised salary scale for Amotekun officials in Ondo and some other states.”