Senator Ali Ndume, recruits in the Nigerian Army, Police, and other security agencies in the country are paid less than N50,000 a month.
Ndume spoke about the poor remuneration for security agencies during a recent interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
The Chief Whip of the Senate mentioned that some soldiers are paid an allowance of N1,200 as their daily money and N2000 as Duty Tour Allowance (DTA).
He went on to explain that the Nigerian government last increased the salaries of security agents in 2008, which is over a decade ago.
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The Senator urged the Federal Government to review the stipends and salaries of serving military personnel.
He also suggested that the government recruit more security operatives, especially to make up for the deficit manpower in the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Army.
According to him, the government should equip the military with adequate equipment to address the nation’s threats and boost their morale.
He believed that reviewing the salaries of the Nigerian armed forces is crucial because it has been over a decade since the last review in 2008.
He said:
“The recruits are paid less than N50,000 in some cases. How can you pay somebody money that cannot buy him a bag of rice, and you expect” him to go and sacrifice and put in his best?
“How can you pay a Nigerian Army, for example, an allowance of N1,200 as his daily money and pay him N2000 only as Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) and put him in the theatre? Some from Lagos, Oyo, and Ondo moved to Maiduguri.
“Their parents are expecting that they will send them something monthly, and you pay the guy N50,000 or less. These are the major challenges that the government must rise to.
“What the President must do is to review the salaries of the Nigerian armed forces because it was last reviewed in 2008, we are in 2023.
“We should review the salary of all the security agencies, we should increase the number of security agencies, especially police and the Nigerian Army. We should equip them adequately, and we should motivate them.”
