The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has said President Bola Tinubu ended promotion backlogs in the services under the ministry and approved lifetime salaries for retired Comptrollers-General and Deputy Comptrollers-General of Immigration.
Tunji-Ojo stated this at the closing ceremony of the Specialised Border Control and Immigration Management System Training at the Immigration Headquarters in Abuja on Friday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
He commended Tinubu for addressing promotion backlogs, noting that no fewer than 50,000 personnel had gained new ranks and offices within three years.
“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, peculiar allowance, he also did,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo also praised the President for his commitment to the welfare of active and retired personnel, highlighting the pension increase for retired Comptrollers-General of Immigration.
“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.”
“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.”
The minister described Tinubu as a visionary leader whose policies were intended to have long-term and lasting positive impacts.
Tunji-Ojo noted that under the Renewed Hope Agenda, Tinubu was building a system that would stand the test of time and remain effective even after he left 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.
“What this president is doing is planting the seed so that the future will be abundant,” he said.
The minister added that Tinubu acknowledged he would not be in office forever, but that institutions would remain, stressing that what mattered was what would be handed down through generations.