Senate Majority Chief Whip, Ali Ndume has expressed deep concern over the meagre salaries of security personnel in the country.
Speaking on Channels Television on Tuesday, January 23, Ndume urged the federal government to promptly review the salaries and other benefits of military personnel in the country.
“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?” queried Ndume who formerly served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Army.
He continued; “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.”
Ndume called on the Tinubu’s administration to increase the number of security operatives and adequately equip them to address the nation’s security threats.
“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,” he added.
