Nigerian Police Spent N86Million On Christmas Decorations For IGP’s Residences, Force HQ — Govspend Review Reveals
A review by SaharaReporters of Nigeria’s public payments portal, Govspend, has revealed that the Nigeria Police Force spent N86 million on Christmas decorations for the Force Headquarters and the official residences of Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun in Abuja and Lagos.
The payment, listed under “Police Command and Formations,” was made to Wysdum Integrated Services Limited in December 2024.
The project was described as: “Payment for Supply of Comprehensive Christmas Decoration of Force Headquarters, Abuja, IGP residence Abuja and Lagos.”
The revelation comes amid increasing scrutiny of IGP Egbetokun’s leadership and the spending priorities of the Nigerian Police.
This comes amid concerns about the welfare of police officers.
Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu had acknowledged these concerns, pledging to address the inadequate pension arrangements for police officers.
He also recognised that their current salaries are insufficient in light of the prevailing economic conditions.
SaharaReporters recently reported that IGP Kayode Egbetokun, during an interactive session with retired police officers and Nigeria Police Pensions stakeholders at the Police Resource Centre in Jabi, Abuja, admitted to the poor welfare of police personnel.
“I sent the template to Mr President to ask for his intervention that if we can get adequate intervention from the government, the fund will create better earnings for the police,” he said.
“That was what I discussed with Mr President. He agreed with me. He agreed that the earning is poor and something will be done about it. He is committed to supporting us in this course. A stated amount was requested as yearly interventions from the government.”
“The fund will be programmed in the new pension arrangements. He told me they are going to look at our figures. We are waiting for the outcome of that,” he added.
The N86 million expenditure on decorations also comes at a time when there are calls for prudence in the management of public funds, to reflect the country’s stated poor revenue conditions. (SaharaReporters)
