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Over the years, there have been conversations around the poor welfare package for Nigerian police officers, which includes a low salary structure and poor accommodation in barracks.
The conversations often revolve around whether operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) are well-paid enough to deliver their constitutional mandate of preventing and detecting crime in the country and protecting human lives and property.
Many often linked the occasional allegations of extortion, bribery, and harassment against operatives of the NPF to the perceived low remuneration given to the officials.
The growing complaints of extortion and harassment against police officials culminated in the #EndSARS protest that shook the nation in Oct. 2020.
At the time, many Nigerian youths thronged the streets to protest police brutality in Nigeria, particularly with a focus on the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the force.
The protest, aimed at reforming the police, kicked off on social media after a video of a young man allegedly killed by SARS officers went viral. With the hashtags, many Nigerian youths had also shared similar unpleasant experiences with the officers of this unit.
Since the protest, aimed at reforming the NPF, there has been an increased demand for accountability from the police, with many Nigerians asking how much police operatives are paid monthly.
The conversation around the welfare of NPF officials resurfaced recently when the Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, posted the picture of a police officer whom he described as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), David Victoria, the Secretary to the Inspector General of Police.
In the now-viral post shared on X (formerly Twitter), the DSP was seen flaunting a Samsung Galaxy Fold while donning what was believed to be a luxury watch.
The post, however, attracted criticisms from some Nigerians who claimed the phone and the wristwatch flaunted by the officer were above her salary, as seen here, here, and here.
An X user @Akint0mide, who specifically quoted the tweet, said, “A civil servant (DSP) with a phone worth close to a million. lol. Ire o.”
But reacting to the post, the police spokesperson countered @Akint0mide’s post and noted that police officers are not poor.
Mr Adejobi queried the user if he knew what it meant to be a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
The police spokesperson’s response, however, did not sit well with many Nigerians.
Weighing into the conversation, another X user, @tataseboydej, attached a photo to his tweet showing the salary of police officers according to their positions – in an apparent attempt to fault Mr Adejobi’s position.
The user tweeted, “Here is the official salary, sir. Now tell us what side hustle she has that can give her the wherewithal to afford a fold.”
This attracted contradictory opinions from X users who claimed the figures on the chart shared by @tataseboydej were inaccurate.
DUBAWA tried to set the records straight, as the X user could have just taken the figures off a blog or news website.
The police salary structure explained
The 1999 Constitution provides for the structure of the Nigeria Police Force. The Force is administered under the Command (Authority), Administration, and Organisation structures.
The NPF, in its article, explained that the Command structure is predicated on the regimental nature of the Force and conducted along the Force badges of ranks.
Hence, the following hierarchy: the Inspector-General of Police, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police; the Asst. Inspector-General of Police; the Commissioner of Police (In charge of contingents in a state); the Deputy Commissioner of Police; the Asst. Commissioner of Police; the Chief Superintendent of Police.
Others are the Superintendent of Police, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, and the Asst. Superintendent of Police, the Inspector of Police, the Sergeant Major, the Sergeant, the Corporal and the Constable.
Some positions are further divided into two or more grade levels and steps. These grade levels and steps specify positions on a scale of ranks or qualities. These structures and grades are the basis of each officer’s salary.
Our efforts to establish the truth
First, a keyword search on Google revealed that many Nigerian blogs – except a few – still bandy the exact figure posted by the X user, as seen here, here, and here, among many others.
DUBAWA observed that the figure tallies with figures from the Premium Times report published in November 2020, though there were insignificant differences.
Recall that following the public outcry against police brutality, the then-President Muhammadu Buhari administration approved an increase in the police salary.
In a press conference, the police affairs minister, Maigari Dingyadi, told journalists that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a “peculiar allowance” for the police to take off from January 2022.
This, according to him, will, in return, increase police personnel’s take-home pay by 20 per cent of their present earnings.
As of the time, police recruits earned N9,019 monthly and N108,233 annually, while the Inspector General of Police earned N711,498 as a monthly salary and N8,537,976 yearly, according to the Premium Times report.
A recent document obtained by DUBAWA, however, revealed that the figures had changed slightly with the addition of a peculiar allowance.
The document was titled “New Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS) with 20% chart (Effective January 2022)”. According to the paper, a police recruit’s monthly consolidated salary is N10,114, peculiar allowance (20%) is N2,022, total gross salary is N12,137, and Gross Salary Less Pension is N11,378.
The document also showed that officers earned according to their grades and levels. For instance, a Deputy Superintendent of Police on step one could have a Gross Salary less Pension of N259,000 while another DSP on step eight could earn N301,000.
The differences in Gross Salary less Pension reflected across the grades and levels aside from Police recruits, who were just starting their journey.
Also, DUBAWA spoke to police officers anonymously, who explained that while the figure bandied by the X user was not correct, the new police salary structure has taken effect though there were some deductions made from their salaries.
“Officially, police will say they have increased your salary, but the next thing that will follow is deductions,” a police source said.
The source further explained that while officers may be in the same positions, the year of intake has a major influence on their salaries, which explains why some constables may earn more than others or less as the case may be.
He said: “As per police work, we have recruits, corporals, sergeants and so on. But in this, we have levels and grades. We may be the same constables but got in at different years (2021, 2022). The same is applicable to corporals, Sergeant but for Inspector rank, we have one bar inspector, two bar, and senior inspectors, they spend about seven years at inspector rank before they get promoted to ASP 2 (1 star), they’ll spend like two years before they go to ASP 1 (2 stars), before three stars, DSP before SP.
“DSP can spend like five years or so before they become SP. And sometimes, they add N1,000 every year. If they pay you N70,000 this year, they might increase it by N2,000 the following year, or even if they want to recruit other people, they might just increase your salary by a bit. You may think they may add money this year, but they may not add it in the next 2 or 3 years.”
This was also confirmed by another officer that DUBAWA spoke with in confidentiality.
| Police salary posted by X user | New Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS) | ||
| Rank | Monthly salary | Rank | Monthly salary (Gross salary_Less Pension) |
| Police Constable | N51, 113.60 | Police constable II (1) | N68,262.29 |
| Police constable II (2) | N69,035.85 | ||
| Police constable II (3) | N69,809.41 | ||
| Police constable II (4) | N70,582.97 | ||
| Police constable II (5) | N71,356.54 | ||
| Police constable II (6) | N72,130.10 | ||
| Police constable II (7) | N72,903.66 | ||
| Police constable II (8) | N73,677.22 | ||
| Police constable II (9) | N74,450.78 | ||
| Police constable II (10) | N75,224.48 | ||
| Police Corporal | N51, 113.60 | Police Corporal (1) | N71,809.19 |
| Police Corporal (2) | N72,951.64 | ||
| Police Corporal (3) | N74,093.95 | ||
| Police Corporal (4) | N75,236.27 | ||
| Police Corporal (5) | N76,378.72 | ||
| Police Corporal (6) | N77,521.04 | ||
| Police Corporal (7) | N78,663.35 | ||
| Police Corporal (8) | N79,805.80 | ||
| Police Corporal (9) | N81,002.13 | ||
| Police Corporal (10) | N82,144.58 | ||
| Police Sergeant | N55,973.90 | Police Sergeant (1) | N77,974.65 |
| Police Sergeant (2) | N79,336.16 | ||
| Police Sergeant (3) | N80,617.34 | ||
| Police Sergeant (4) | N82,128.16 | ||
| Police Sergeant (5) | N85,639.11 | ||
| Police Sergeant (6) | N88,150.07 | ||
| Police Sergeant (7) | N90,660.89 | ||
| Police Sergeant (8) | N93,171.84 | ||
| Police Sergeant (9) | N95,682.80 | ||
| Police Sergeant (10) | N98,193.61 | ||
| Sergeant Major | N62,204.88 | Sergeant major (1) | N96,216.19 |
| Sergeant Major (2) | N99,233.25 | ||
| Sergeant Major (3) | N102,250.32 | ||
| Sergeant Major (4) | N105,267.53 | ||
| Sergeant Major (5) | N108,284.59 | ||
| Sergeant Major (6) | N111,301.66 | ||
| Sergeant Major (7) | N114,318.86 | ||
| Sergeant Major (8) | N117,335.93 | ||
| Sergeant Major (9) | N120,353.00 | ||
| Sergeant Major (10) | N123,370.20 | ||
| Inspector of police | N87,135.10 | Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (1) | N119,693.87 |
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (2) | N121,879.47 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (3) | N124,064.96 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (4) | N126,250.56 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (5) | N128,436.16 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (6) | N130,621.65 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (7) | N133,747.12 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (8) | N136,872.59 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (9) | N139,997.95 | ||
| Inspector II/Cadet Inspector (10) | N143,123.42 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police | N156,318.39 | Assistant Superintendent of police II (1) | N219,736.63 |
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (2) | N223,254.74 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (3) | N226,772.98 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (4) | N230,281.23 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (5) | N233,809.47 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (6) | N237,327.58 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (7) | N240,845.82 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (8) | N244,344.06 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (9) | N247,882.17 | ||
| Assistant Superintendent of police II (10) | N251,400.42 | ||
| Deputy Superintendent of Police | N170,399.69 | Deputy Superintendent of Police (1) | N259,706.29 |
| Deputy Superintendent of Police (2) | N265,707.25 | ||
| Deputy Superintendent of Police (3) | N271,708.08 | ||
| Deputy Superintendent of Police (4) | N277,708.90 | ||
| Deputy Superintendent of Police (5) | N283,709.86 | ||
| Deputy Superintendent of Police (6) | N289,710.68 | ||
| Deputy Superintendent of Police (7) | N295,711.51 | ||
| Deputy Superintendent of Police (8) | N301,712.33 | ||
| Superintendent of Police | N172,089.06 | Superintendent of Police (1) | N276,759.05 |
| Superintendent of Police (2) | N283,103.54 | ||
| Superintendent of Police (3) | N289,447.89 | ||
| Superintendent of Police (4) | N295,792.39 | ||
| Superintendent of Police (5) | N302,136.88 | ||
| Superintendent of Police (6) | N308,481.37 | ||
| Superintendent of Police (7) | N314,825.72 | ||
| Superintendent of Police (8) | N321,170.21 | ||
| Chief Superintendent of police | N199,723.96 | Chief Superintendent of police (1) | N338,759.83 |
| Chief Superintendent of police (2) | N346,451.39 | ||
| Chief Superintendent of police (3) | N354,306.95 | ||
| Chief Superintendent of police (4) | N362,162.38 | ||
| Chief Superintendent of police (5) | N370,017.94 | ||
| Chief Superintendent of police (6) | N377,873.50 | ||
| Chief Superintendent of police (7) | N385,728.92 | ||
| Chief Superintendent of police (8) | N393,584.48 |
Recall that the former IGP Baba Usman had blamed the delay in implementation of the new salary structure on the inability to update it in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Subsequently, a police document dated June 22, 2022, obtained by Punch Newspaper, noted that the police authorities again cited insufficient funds on the police cost line as one of the causes of the delay.
It partly reads, “According to information received on June 22, 2022, from the PAB office in Abuja, there is insufficient funding on the police personnel cost line, and if personnel promoted are upgraded to their next grade levels and steps, the police authority will be unable to pay salary.”
However, some months later, another police document noted that the IPPIS Unit of OAGF had “commenced the application of reviewed allowances in the payment of police salaries with effect from July 2022.”
It noted that while a month of supplementary salary had been paid for July 2022, the remaining six months’ arrears would be paid.
The police authorities had promised salary payment using the reviewed salary structure from August 2022.
However, it is unclear whether the payment of salaries and other allowances is strictly followed.
On Oct 13, DUBAWA reached out to the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to get more clarification on the salary structure of the Nigeria Police Force. Although the commission promptly replied to the email and promised to revert shortly, it is yet to do so, almost 15 working days later.
On Oct 27, DUBAWA sent a reminder to the commission. Again, the commission promptly replied and promised to get back ‘shortly’, but nothing has been heard from the commission since then.
