An open letter lists seven areas of action on police pay, insurance, housing and pensions. Retired officers say the demand they care about most is still unmet.
ABUJA, Oct 19 (Daily Talk) – President Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) has published an open letter to Atiku Abubakar, defending the administration’s record on the welfare of serving and retired police officers.
The letter, addressed “Dear Alhaji Atiku,” says posting on social media will not change the “facts on ground.” It argues that the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has positively affected the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and its retirees, and that more is under way. This report could not independently confirm the contents of the Atiku posts the council says it is answering.
The exchange is the latest in a run of sharp exchanges between the Tinubu camp and the opposition. Earlier this month, Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo publicly attacked Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, after Atiku criticised the government’s 30-day petrol discount. DAILY TALK carried the story, which it sourced to DAILY POST. More on the ongoing campaign rivalry is in DAILY TALK’s politics section.
What the Campaign Council Says
The letter lists seven areas of action. These are the council’s claims, and where independent reporting exists it is noted.
1. A review of pay and allowances. The council says the Federal Government set up a ministerial and stakeholders’ committee to review the remuneration and welfare of serving and retired personnel. The letter says the review covers basic salaries, regular and non-regular allowances, housing and uniform allowances, insurance and other benefits, pension arrears and death benefits, and Group Life Insurance and Group Personal Accident claims.
2. The new minimum wage. The council says police officers were among the beneficiaries when the N70,000 national minimum wage was implemented in 2024, with consequential adjustments following. For the wider economic backdrop, including whether lower food prices are easing pressure on workers, see DAILY TALK’s analysis, Nigeria’s inflation mirage: Food prices fall, but core pressures mount.
3. Insurance payouts. The letter cites a police announcement of N2.855bn paid to 1,235 beneficiaries. It also cites N23bn paid cumulatively to 8,311 families of deceased officers by May 2025, covering several policy years between 2018/2019 and 2023/2024.
4. Barracks reconstruction. The council points to a programme to rebuild dilapidated barracks. It includes temporary relocation, relocation allowances, rent payments during construction and the promise of accommodation in the redeveloped facilities for eligible occupants.
5. National Police Day. The letter says President Tinubu declared April 7 as National Police Day, with the first major celebration in 2025, to honour serving and fallen officers and draw attention to working conditions.
6. Healthcare. The council says the president promised at the 2025 event to improve access to healthcare for officers and their families, and that this effort is ongoing. DAILY TALK’s health desk tracks related developments in the sector.
7. Pension increases. The letter says the Federal Government approved pension increases of 20% and 28% for eligible retirees under the Defined Benefit Scheme. It adds that the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) reported completing payment of arrears from the first increase.
The Unresolved Issue: The Police Exit Bill
The council’s letter is silent on the issue now dominating the police retirees’ public campaign: the Contributory Pension Scheme.
Retired officers under the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have protested repeatedly. They blocked a gate of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, urging the president to sign the Police Exit Bill, which TheCable reports was passed by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025, and sent to the presidency on March 16, 2026.
The forum’s demands include presidential assent, migration to a Defined Benefit scheme, a Police Pension Board similar to the military’s, and payment of accrued rights and arrears, according to BusinessDay. The retirees note that the Armed Forces, the DSS, the NIA and the EFCC already operate outside the contributory framework, as The Guardian reported. Arise News reported that the forum said it represents more than 30,000 retirees and threatened fresh protests if the bill was not signed by June 22, 2026.
There has been some movement from the presidency. In August 2025, President Tinubu directed the National Pension Commission’s director-general to urgently resolve the long-standing police pension issue and ordered free healthcare for low-income retirees under the contributory scheme, according to Gazette NGR. That is the kind of action the council could have cited but did not.
The retirees’ position appears unchanged. A protest at the Presidential Villa in July 2026 repeated the call for him to sign the bill, per Gazette NGR. This report found no confirmation that the bill had been signed as of the latest reports reviewed. Readers should check official channels for the current status.
Why the Dispute Matters
The NPF is Nigeria’s largest internal security institution, and its welfare affects morale, recruitment and public trust. One security analyst quoted in Nigerian media warned that retirees’ conditions have national security implications, because serving officers see how their predecessors fare.
For the ruling party, police welfare is both a governance claim and an electoral one. For the opposition, retiree protests are a ready line of criticism. The council’s letter tries to shift the debate toward measures it says have been delivered. More coverage of the campaign contest is available in DAILY TALK’s Top Stories.
Key Terms Explained
- Presidential Campaign Council (PCC)
- The organisation a candidate and party set up to run a presidential campaign. It coordinates messaging and often responds publicly to rivals. Its statements are political communications, not official government findings.
- African Democratic Congress (ADC)
- An opposition party. Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president (1999–2007), is its presidential candidate, according to DAILY TALK’s reporting.
- All Progressives Congress (APC)
- Nigeria’s ruling party, led by President Tinubu.
- Nigeria Police Force (NPF)
- The national police agency, headed by the Inspector-General of Police. Its serving and retired personnel are the subject of the welfare measures above.
- National Minimum Wage
- The lowest legal monthly pay. The 2024 law set it at N70,000, and an increase usually triggers a review of the wider salary structure.
- Consequential adjustment
- A rise in higher pay grades so that differences between junior and senior staff are preserved after the minimum wage goes up.
- Allowances
- Payments on top of basic salary. Regular ones, such as housing, are paid routinely, while non-regular ones apply to particular duties or circumstances. They often make up a large share of public servants’ take-home pay.
- Group Life Insurance
- Employer-bought cover paying a lump sum to the family of an employee who dies in service. Delayed payouts have long been a police grievance.
- Group Personal Accident (GPA)
- Cover for injury or disability from accidents, which matters for officers exposed to violent crime.
- Pension arrears
- Money owed to retirees that has not been paid, often because approved increases take effect late.
- Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS)
- A pension arrangement in which retirees receive a pension based on their salary and years of service, with the government funding the obligation.
- Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD)
- The federal body that pays pensions to retirees under the Defined Benefit Scheme.
- Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS)
- A system, regulated by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), in which workers and employers pay a share of salary into individual retirement accounts. Payouts depend on what accumulates, and police retirees say this leaves them with pensions too small to live on.
- Police Exit Bill
- Legislation that would remove the police from the contributory scheme and set up a dedicated pension body. It needs the president’s assent to become law.
- Presidential assent
- The president’s signature that turns a bill passed by the legislature into law.
- National Police Day
- An annual observance on April 7, according to the letter, meant to honour serving and fallen officers and highlight welfare issues.
Assessing the Claims
Several items on the council’s list can be checked. The insurance figures come from police announcements, and the pension increases and arrears from federal agencies. Readers can verify them with the NPF, PTAD and PenCom.
The list also has gaps. A review is not an outcome, and the letter gives no timeline for findings or for implementing any increase. Barracks reconstruction is described as “ongoing” with no figures on completed units. And the letter does not address the pension exit demand.
Critics will say the letter answers a different question from the one retirees are asking. Supporters will say the listed measures show real progress and that a bill awaiting assent does not erase them. Both can be true at once.
What Comes Next
Three developments will shape this: whether the president signs the Police Exit Bill and when, whether the salary review committee publishes funded recommendations, and whether retirees follow through on threats of renewed protest. For business and fiscal context on how such commitments are financed, see DAILY TALK’s Business & Economy coverage, including FG’s guarantees and contingent liabilities hit N7.84 trillion.
This article is based on a public letter from the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council and published reports from Nigerian outlets. The council’s claims are attributed to it and have not all been independently verified. Atiku Abubakar and the ADC had not been reached for comment at the time of writing.