The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, on Monday said stakeholders involved in the implementation of salary increment for officers of the Force are still working on the new salary package and would ensure it becomes a reality.
Baba also said that the increment was the President Muhammadu Buhari’s initiative without any demand from the police, saying the officers are aware that it is mutinous to plan any disruption of law enforcement services let alone carrying it out.
It will be recalled that the Minister Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, had last year disclosed that the new salary package for police officers would start by January this 2022 but three months after, the implementation is yet to be achieved.
But reacting to a media report that officers of the Force were planning to embark on a protest by March 26 to demand increment in their salaries and allowances, the police chief stated that no police officer would descend so low to protest salary increment because they are aware of the implications.
The IGP, in a statement signed on his behalf by the Acting Force Spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, dismissed the report, saying it was an “attempt by unscrupulous individuals to bring the Force to disrepute, misinform the general public and heat up the polity.”
He said, “Since that approval, theSalaries and Wages Commission has issued an implementation circular, the Honourable Minister of Police Affairs and the IGP have been working with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to ensure the stoppage of tax deductions as directed by the President and approved by the Federal Executive Council.”
According to him, the Nigeria Police Force is a regimented and disciplined organization with laid down rules and guidelines for addressing grievances and in no circumstance is a strike action one of such means.
The police boss added, “It is pertinent to emphasize that the IGP is accelerating efforts to ensure the full implementation of the increment of salaries and allowances proposed by the President and approved by the Federal Executive Council.
“It is important to accentuate that it was the President’s initiative without any demand from the police to direct the process of increasing salaries and allowances. The Federal Government is therefore fully committed to the implementation of the new salary package.”
