President Muhammadu Buhari, who marked his 79th birthday in the week under review, coincidently approved a new salary structure for officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to boost their morale and productivity.

The president, who marked the anniversary in Istanbul, Turkey, on December 17, had also ordered the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, to release the salaries of health workers, including doctors that were seized while enforcing the no-work, no-pay policy.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, confirmed this development when he fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja, after a closed-door meeting with the president on Dec. 16.

Earlier on December 15, the president through the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi, had announced the provision of a 20 per cent peculiar allowance for the police.

He said: “I am particularly very happy today to inform Nigerians that the Federal Executive Council has approved the review and upgrading of the take-home pay of police personnel in this country.”

According to Ngige, the approval covers members of the Joint Health Services Union (JOHESU) who went on strike in 2018.

Buhari had marked the 79th birthday with the cutting of a birthday cake made in national colours, green-white-green, saying he would put in his best for Nigeria until the last day when in 2023 he hands over to a successor.

He added that he planned to return to his farm to tender crops and livestock while enjoying his retirement from State House.

The Nigerian leader, who was in Turkey for the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, held a bilateral meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan where he reiterated that Nigeria would partner with the Republic of Turkey in dealing with the current security challenges facing the nation.

The president acknowledged that Turkey had garnered a lot of experience dealing with security challenges of various kinds and Nigeria would latch onto that experience.

He also called on the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit to provide concrete support to help defeat terrorism and insurgency in Africa.

The president made the call at the third edition of the Summit held in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday.

According to the president, the Boko Haram terrorist group, though fragmented by internal strife and degraded by Nigeria’s defence forces, is still active and preying on soft targets.

The Presidency also reacted to the editorial of Daily Trust on Sunday, December 12 Daily Trust editorial: “Life has lost its value under Buhari’s Nigeria’’.

It said “tackling the scourge of banditry and terrorism remains Federal Government’s first priority, as President Muhammadu Buhari holds the victims and their families in his thoughts and prayers.’’

Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, described the editorial as unfair comments, saying Daily Trust’s suggestion that the president exchanges violence for the support he got electorally is beneath a publication that claims any kind of political neutrality or integrity.

The president has since returned to Abuja after attending the Africa-Turkey Partnership Summit in Istanbul, Turkey.

(NAN)

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