The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has said President Bola Tinubu approved lifetime salaries for retired Comptrollers-General and Deputy Comptrollers-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service as part of efforts to improve the welfare of serving and retired personnel.
Tunji-Ojo also disclosed that the Tinubu administration had cleared promotion backlogs across services under the Ministry of Interior, with at least 50,000 personnel benefiting from promotions within three years.
The minister made the disclosures on Friday during the closing ceremony of the Specialised Border Control and Immigration Management System training at the Immigration Service headquarters in Abuja.
He commended Tinubu for addressing longstanding promotion delays, increasing recruitment and approving salary increments and additional allowances for personnel under the ministry.
“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,” the minister said.
“When it comes to salary increment, Mr President has done it. In terms of hazard allowances, peculiar allowance, he also did,” he added.
Tunji-Ojo particularly praised the President for approving lifetime salaries for retired heads and deputy heads of the Immigration Service, describing the decision as a significant improvement in their welfare.
He said retired Comptrollers-General previously received pensions of about ₦130,000, which he considered inadequate.
“Previously, CGs had a pension of about N130,000, it was not encouraging. But what did the president do? He signed, and approved salary for life for CGs and DCGs,” Tunji-Ojo said.
The minister described Tinubu as committed to improving the welfare of security personnel and urged officers to reciprocate the government’s efforts through effective service delivery.
“This president has cared for the services more than any president in the history of Nigeria. He has given you his all,” he said.
He added, “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.”
Beyond personnel welfare, Tunji-Ojo described Tinubu as a leader whose policies were designed to strengthen public institutions and deliver benefits beyond his tenure.
According to him, the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda focuses on building sustainable systems that would continue to function effectively after the President leaves office.
“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,” the minister said.
He added, “What this president is doing is planting the seed so that there will be abundance for the future.”
Tunji-Ojo said Tinubu recognised that his tenure would eventually end, but the institutions being strengthened under his administration would endure.
He stressed that the long-term value of the administration’s policies would depend on the institutions, structures and opportunities passed on to future generations.
