Tunji-Ojo Says Tinubu Cleared Promotion Backlogs

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, says President Bola Tinubu has cleared promotion backlogs across services under the ministry, with at least 50,000 personnel receiving new ranks and appointments within three years.

Tunji-Ojo made the statement on Friday at the closing ceremony of the Specialised Border Control and Immigration Management System (BCIMS) training at the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters in Abuja. “It has never happened before, but Tinubu did it,” Tunji-Ojo said, adding that recruitment had also increased.

He said the services had recruited no fewer than 40,000 personnel in a single exercise. The minister’s statement did not specify the services covered by the figure or the dates of the recruitment exercise. Tunji-Ojo Says Tinubu Cleared Promotion Backlogs

Tunji-Ojo said the President had also addressed concerns over the pensions of retired senior immigration officers. “Previously, CGs had a pension of about N130,000, which was not encouraging. But what did the president do? He signed, and approved salary for life for CGs and DCGs,” he said.

The minister described Tinubu as a leader focused on long-term institutional development, arguing that policies should deliver lasting benefits beyond the tenure of the administration. “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,” he said.

He added that the administration was working to build institutions that would remain effective after the President left office.

Tunji-Ojo said the President expected personnel under the ministry to reciprocate the administration’s support by performing their duties professionally and improving public service delivery. “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,” he said.

The minister’s remarks highlighted the administration’s claims on personnel welfare, recruitment and career progression within the interior services.

However, the figures cited at the event were not accompanied by a breakdown showing the agencies covered, the number of affected officers in each service or the implementation details of the lifetime salary arrangement.

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Mirian Gom

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Gom Mirian is a Nigerian journalist and editor at Africa Health Report (AHR), with more than a decade of experience covering health, development, humanitarian issues and public-interest affairs across Nigeria and Africa. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics and has additional training in data analytics, combining evidence-driven reporting with compelling human-centred storytelling. Her work examines the intersection of health, policy, economics, technology and social change, with a particular interest in how global decisions and emerging challenges affect communities across Africa. Her journalism has received professional recognition, including a Nestlé Award nomination for human-interest reporting. Follow her on X @mirian_linus.

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