• Since my husband’s death, getting his entitlements has been frustrating, says wife of deceased inspector
By Funke Busari
Widowhood is something that no one would wish for one’s enemy, especially in Nigeria where there is no adequate provisions for widows to carry on after the death of their husbands.
A widow is any female person married under native law and custom, or under the Marriage Act, or any other law recognised in the country, whose husband has died and has not remarried.
Simply put, women who have lost their spouses by death and are not married again are called widows.
There are many sad tales and responsibilities attached to this, as many are often abandoned by the late husband’s relations, friends and acquaintances.
Culture and tradition in some communities add more to the plights of widows as they are often deprived of their husbands’ inheritance. The good news however is that some courts in Nigeria are changing the tide in favour of widows.
Common stories abound among Nigeria Police widows about how they have been living from hand to mouth at the mercy of God. This is largely due to the fact that many of them have not been able to access their husbands’ entitlements since the demise of their husbands. Some of them are suffering in silence as they fear to talk about their plights for fear of further victimisation.
Many are the plight of wives of police officers whose husbands have paid the supreme fight. Many have been thrown out of their homes in the barracks, while some others have been living in despicable conditions. Some have had their children sent home from school for inability to pay school fees. And all these are happening because their police officer breadwinners are dead and their wives and family could not access their entitlements.
Mrs. Ronke Adeyanju is a police widow, as her husband was an officer of the police. She described her own case as a kind of “dogs eat dogs” situation, as she fingered a police officer in charge of insurance as the main challenger to her getting her husband’s entitlements.
She informed that it had not been rosy for her and her four children since 2017 when her husband, Olugbenga Adeyanju, a Police Inspector at the Ojodu Police Station attached to the Lagos State Police Command died.
Recalling the demise of her husband, she noted: “He died on duty, it’s just a little sickness and we cared for him throughout the sickness but he died within a month. We did so many tests, but no specific diagnosis was made by the doctor.”
Since her husband’s death, eking a living without her husband’s support has been tough and heartbreaking. She blamed this on her inability to access her husband’s entitlement at the office in charge of insurance at the Lagos State Police Command. She regretted that the officer preventing her from getting her late husband’s entitlements is a fellow woman.
She stated that she was tired of the obstacles hindering her from claiming whatever her husband is entitled to after he died in active service of the Nigerian Police Force following a protracted illness.
In a chat with Saturday Sun, she said the procedures for accessing her husband’s benefits were so cumbersome and complex. As such, Mrs. Adeyanju lamented that her pain had continued to soar, having been further burdened by the officer saddled with such responsibility.
Mrs. Adeyanju said she had yet to receive any compensation from the police authorities because she had not made the list of those compensated since 2017, just like many other persons that had lost their loved ones in the police.
While bemoaning her sad situation, Mrs. Adeyanju told the reporter: “My husband has been late since 2017. Since the time, I have tried to do whatever they said I should do, but I have been unable to get the money. And I am fed up.”
She noted that she complied with all necessary procedures and submitted all the several papers and documentations she was asked to submit. She lamented though that all her efforts had come to nought. She said the process were far from transparent, insisting that only those that could take illegitimate paths to access their entitlements were making a headway. She said some were offering bribe so some officers before they could have access to their spouses’ entitlements.
She further told the reporter: “Even when I got to the Police Command, at the final office concerning the gratuity, even the woman there said that if I wanted the thing to be faster, that I must offer them something, which I agreed to. I said I would do that if they were able to process the papers and the money came out. But I can’t use my money to pay the police officer. They said they will take the letter to Abuja and that they would call me. But since then I have not heard anything from them.”
She also explained that the officer in charge of late police officers entitlement did not mention the actual amount required to fast track her husband’s compensation. She accused one of the police officers in charge of police insurance of demanding money from her to enable them to process her husband’s papers fast. She said she didn’t know whether to return to the office, as the lady police officer had promised to call her whenever the papers were ready. But she said it’s been about six years now, wondering if the occupants of the office would be the same set of people that were there in 2017.
She noted that eking a living has not been easy for her and her children, adding that catering to the needs of her children without her husband had been a herculean task. According to her, the oldest child is about 25 years now, while the youngest is 13.
Speaking on her plight, she said: “I have been coping by the Grace of God, I feed from hand to mouth.” She said she was aware that some next-of-kins were paid some money recently, but she was not captured in the list.
She said: “I got the information from a source and I was happy to hear that my husband’s year was in the list. But when they checked the list, my husband’s name was not on it. It was the people whose names were on it they were answering,” she said in a sad tone.
She said she had made so much effort to get the money because her family is really in need of the money.
“I need it because of lack of money. My first born, a boy, had to stop school for the younger one. And whatever they asked me to do during that period, I did. But when I realised that nothing was working, I had to stop, because I could not be using the little money I have to feed to be giving people or be using it on transportation. So I’m fed up. Let me tell you the truth, when I got married to Adeyanju, we had a traditional marriage in my father’s sitting room. I didn’t go to the registry,” she said.
Efforts to reach the alleged officer, was unsuccessful. When the reporter called and visited the insurance office, she was said to have gone for a meeting.
The reporter contacted the spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police, informing of the allegation that a police officer at the Insurance department was making it difficult for widows of deceased police officers to access their husbands’ entitlements.
In his response, Hundeyin said: “The payment is being done at the Force Headquarters, not at the Lagos State Command, and it takes quite some time, sometime years, for the payment to be made.”
Another widow, Gloria Candidos Ode, noted that she had been fortunate. She, alongside some others like Agboola Mercy Elizabeth and Deborah Monday, among others, were fortunate to be captured on the list presented by one CSP Adejoke Adeniran, who is said to have worked tirelessly to process the benefits of some deceased policemen and policewomen in a bid to help the families of the deceased officers.
Some of these beneficiaries went home relieved, when they received cheques from the Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa recently.
Ode told the reporter after collecting her cheque: “This money will go a long way to help me to solve some family problems and to help my children who are in school.”
Asked how she had been faring since her husband’s death, she said she was able to cope because she had been doing some little things to survive. “I teach and I also have some small businesses that I do,” she said.
Her situation is totally different from that of Adeyanju’s widow. Mrs Ronke Adeyanju is certainly not a happy woman today as she is yet to find any succour. She said she was already losing hope unless those that have allegedly refused to help her and her fatherless children do the needful quickly.
Recently, it was joy and excitement in Lagos when the State Police Command handed cheques totalling over N28.5 million to 78 family members of police officers who have either paid the supreme price in the service of the nation or were bearing various degrees of injury. The compensation handed to beneficiaries of the deceased officers covered Group Life benefits and the Inspector General of Police Welfare Insurance Scheme for civil servants and officers for the 2020/2021 year.
Findings by Saturday Sun revealed that part of the challenges being experienced by families of deceased police officers in accessing claims were being caused by a certain female officer in the Insurance Office.
It was also reliably gathered that the Federal Government, through the Contributory Pensions Act, had also made provisions to insure the lives of all police officers, while former governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) subscribed to an additional Group Life Scheme to complement the FG’s policy.
Before 2015, it was gathered that an insurance compensation of N2 million was approved for senior police officers, N1.5 million for Inspectors and N1 million for members of the rank and file.
It was also learnt that the past administration of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos State gave a 150 per cent raise in the compensation approved for deceased officers that served in the state. This makes the family of a deceased officer entitled to between N2 million and N5 million depending on the rank at the time of death or permanent physical disability.
It was later noted that the approval of insurance compensation of N2 million for senior police officers, N1.5 million for Inspectors and N1 million for the rank and file were no longer enough.
In 2022, the current governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, boasted of paying N70million compensation to slain police officers’ families since 2019. Specifically a cheque of five million was paid to the family of late Oluwatobi Peters, a police officer attached to the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad.