Personnel of the Nigeria Police Force have complained about the delay in the implementation of the 20 per cent upward review of police salaries as approved by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
In December 2021, the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, had said the Nigerian Government had approved an increase in salaries for personnel of the Nigeria Police Force which will take effect from January 2022. The improved welfare package was one of the issues raised during the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.
However, the failure to implement the review resulted in agitations in March 2022 as a section of the police declared their intention to embark on strike.
Reacting, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba Usman, cautioned the officers to desist from going ahead with the strike or be ready to face the consequences.
Easterner reported how some officers were dismissed in connection with the planned strike action.
Meanwhile, in a recent development, police officers have lamented the delay in the implementation of the reviewed welfare packages, noting that it is six months late.
An officer who spoke on condition of anonymity told Easterner that the police’s failure to keep their promises was affecting the morale of officers who already expected an increase since the police authorities promised it would take effect from March following the planned strike. He noted that since January, he has been receiving his usual salary adding that the kits the government promised had not been distributed.
He said, “The police announced salary increment since last year and it was supposed to take effect from January this year, we were glad that finally, our service to our nation has paid off. We looked forward to this but up till now, it has not been implemented. This is June, six months behind schedule.
“Recall that sometime in March, police officers threatened to embark on strike if this review was not implemented. The authorities quickly appealed, saying they would implement the new salary structure in March but that was just a lie. There’s no hope that they will actually implement the new welfare package for us.”
Another officer told Easterner that the planned strike action which was stopped and the failure of the police authorities to implement the reviewed salary structure shows that even police officers are victims of a failed system that cannot allow people to speak out against what is unfavorable to them.
“The whole issue is very discouraging and disturbing. They announced by themselves that they will start the implementation in January; no one forced them to speak on it. They did the announcement willingly and now, what has come out of it.
“Some officers wanted to protest against this in March, they dismissed them from the service. We cannot even express ourselves freely, it’s that bad. We are in June, the middle of the year, yet we haven’t seen the promised implementation and they’re not saying anything. What we want to know is, when in particular do they want to implement the reviewed salary structure?”
