“I served 35 good years. I was given 1.7 million Naira. I retired in 2018. Since then, I have been receiving 40,000 Naira every month. What can 40k do?” – DSP Godwin Tom (rtd.)
It was a painful cry, not just of a man, but of a system that has failed those who put their lives on the line to protect it. Listening to retired DSP Godwin Tom lament his fate during the recent protest by retired police officers is enough to make the soul bleed.
The way we treat our police officers, both in service and after retirement, is a national disgrace. They are underpaid, under-equipped, underappreciated, and then cast aside after serving. It’s a lose-lose situation. No dignity in service, and even less in retirement.
One must commend Omoyele Sowore for bringing the needed attention to this silent suffering endured by many who once bore arms for the nation. It is through voices like these that these injustices get pulled out of the shadows into the public light. For that, he deserves credit.
How does one serve the nation for 35 years and retire to a pittance that cannot feed a family, let alone afford housing? These are men and women who have faced all sorts to protect us; urchins, armed robbers, kidnappers, and raw violence of our streets, yet they retire into misery. And we wonder why morale is low, why corruption festers, and why security is fragile?
While in active service, the conditions are no better. Police barracks are often in states of disrepair, unfit for human habitation. Uniforms are tattered, weapons are outdated or non-functional, and welfare support is almost non-existent. Medical facilities? Don’t get me started. The police force that is supposed to protect lives and property is itself in need of rescue.
Take it or leave it, a broken force cannot protect a country. Poor welfare compromises service delivery and inevitably, the integrity of the officers. When people have nothing to look forward to either during their careers or afterward, what incentive is left to serve with honor?
It’s a national security crisis in disguise.
If we want to attract the best into law enforcement, I mean a professional, disciplined, and committed police force, we must fix the welfare structure from the ground up. That means fair salaries, housing fit for dignity, health coverage, proper retirement plans, and respect -both in word and deed.
Behind DSP Godwin Tom’s story are thousands more, silently enduring the same fate, waiting to be heard, or worse, forgotten.
It’s time we stopped treating our police officers like expendables. It’s time we treated them as the human beings and patriots that they are.
Their future should not be a sentence to poverty.
Chiechefulam Ikebuiro,
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