By Yusuf Oketola
THE Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, has advised the Federal Government to increase the minimum wage of the Nigerian Police to N100,000.
Oba Akanbi said the welfare of the police should be adequately taken care of before blaming them for being corrupt.
The monarch said police is a noble job in many advanced countries, urging the Federal Government to encourage Nigerian youths to join police force by ensuring proper funding.
Oluwo who made the call at a one day town hall meeting organised by the Police Service Commission, held in Ibadan, Oyo State, said the take home salary of police officers is discouraging.
He called for a review of their salary structure.
The traditional ruler pointed out that many of the police officers have to endure what he described as ‘delicate and poorly remunerated job’.
He said: “In some advanced countries, police is an enviable job to many. It is well funded. The Nigerian government are enjoined to promote the Nigerian Police Force through adequate funding and recruitment of more personnel. Nigeria should be a police state to effectively combat crimes.
“The poor remuneration couples with indiscriminate attacks on police officers is discouraging many. Nigerians should stop blaming corrupt police officers if the government refused to increase their salary.
“The minimum wage for the least police officer should be N100,000. It is only when these are done that we can courageously challenge police officers taking bribes. If not, we should blame them less.”
