The Federal Government has approved the review and upgrade of salaries of police personnel by 20% with effect from January 2022.
This disclosure was made by the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, while briefing state house correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting which was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the newly renovated council chambers on Wednesday.
Dingyadi stated that the review is in response to part of the demands made by #EndSARS protesters in 2020, which borders on improved welfare for police officers.
Going further, the Police Affairs Minister said that FEC approved the increase of duty tour allowance to 6% and also directed the release of N1.12 billion for payment of outstanding uninsured benefits for the period of 2013 to 2020.
President Buhari had promised that the salaries will be upgraded commensurate to service rendered to further maintain peace in the country.
FEC also approved the release of N13.1 billion for payment of outstanding death benefits of 5,472 personnel for the uninsured period of 2013 to August 2021. He, however, said the payment would kick off after the auditor-general of the federation must have vetted it
In addition, the council approved a tax waiver in the sum of N18.6 billion for junior officers of the police to increase the take-home pay effective from October 2021.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, however, disclosed that the new salary structure has not been captured in the 2022 budget, noting that her ministry will await the outcome of the verification of the various computations from the auditor-general.
According to her, the outcome will first require the executive to pass a supplementary budget to parliament.
