Nigerian police to get pay raise and tax waiver

By Ishaq Khalid

The Nigerian government has approved a 20% salary increase for police officers.

President Muhammadu Buhari had promised a pay increase in the wake of mass protests, known as the #EndSars, against police brutality last year.

Police Affairs Minister Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the salary increase was part of measures to discourage officers from taking bribes and extorting citizens.

He said this was also to "improve the relationship between the public and the police".

The increase will take effect from January 2022, he added.

A salary tax waiver for junior police personnel has also been approved with retrospective effect from October this year.

The #EndSars protests were sparked by widespread allegations of police brutality including extortion, torture and extra-judicial killings especially by members of the police's Special Anti-robbery Squad unit known as Sars.

The unit was disbanded in the wake of the protests and various panels of inquiry have been set up in several states to investigate human rights violations by the security forces - before and during the protests.

Campaigners however say that more than one year on, officers implicated in abuses have yet to be held to account.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: AFP