Ayomide Awe
President Bola Tinubu has approved lifetime salaries for retired Comptrollers-General and Deputy Comptrollers-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has disclosed.
Tunji-Ojo said the approval was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve the welfare of serving and retired personnel of agencies under the Ministry of Interior.
The minister made the disclosure on Friday at the closing ceremony of the Specialised Border Control and Immigration Management System training held at the Immigration Service headquarters in Abuja.
He also said the Tinubu administration had cleared promotion backlogs across services under the ministry, adding that no fewer than 50,000 personnel had benefited from promotions within three years.
According to him, the administration has also increased recruitment, approved salary increments and improved allowances for personnel.
“It has never happened before, but Tinubu did it. He also increased the volume of recruitment, where we now have no fewer than 40,000 new recruits at once.
“When it comes to salary increment, Mr President has done it. In terms of hazard allowances and peculiar allowances, he also did,” the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo described the approval of lifetime salaries for retired immigration chiefs as a significant intervention in addressing concerns over their post-service welfare.
He recalled that retired Comptrollers-General previously received pensions of about N130,000, which he described as inadequate.
“Previously, CGs had a pension of about N130,000; it was not encouraging. But what did the President do? He signed and approved a salary for life for CGs and DCGs,” he said.
The minister commended Tinubu for what he described as an unprecedented commitment to the welfare of personnel across the services under his ministry.
He urged officers to reciprocate the administration’s support by demonstrating professionalism, dedication and commitment to their responsibilities.
“This President has cared for the services more than any president in the history of Nigeria. He has given you his all.
“And all he asks from us in the service is to do our jobs well and make Nigerians happy. Everything we have asked of him, he has done. This is the least we can do,” Tunji-Ojo added.
The minister also described Tinubu as a leader focused on building enduring institutions rather than pursuing policies with only immediate benefits.
He said the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda was designed to establish structures that would remain effective beyond his tenure.
“President Bola Tinubu has never been about the immediate, but the future. He understands that the most prosperous nations do not boil, cook and eat their seeds; they plant them.
“What this President is doing is planting the seed so that there will be abundance for the future,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo added that the President recognised that political officeholders would eventually leave office, but the institutions they built would continue to serve future generations.
