Nigeria's approach to senior officer lifetime compensation has just undergone a remarkable transformation this August of 2025, and I figure it's worth scratching out a few words on this rather curious development.

Let me tell you, valued audience, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has just put his signature to a policy that would cause royalty to turn green. The esteemed Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo made the declaration at what they call a "Ministerial Retreat" in Abuja, sounding proud as a peacock.

What's the hullabaloo, you ask? Indeed, it's about guaranteeing that certain government officials will never stop collecting their full salary until the final curtain falls. But mark my words - this luxurious arrangement ain't for ordinary civil servants.

Not by a long shot! This special treatment is reserved for those lucky individuals who retire at the lofty ranks of the uppermost tiers of authority in agencies under the government's domestic apparatus.

The official reason – and I present this with a straight face – is to prevent these distinguished individuals from facing financial hardship. Think on that a spell! As if a high-ranking official with decades of government service would be left destitute.

This remarkable scheme comes alongside other reforms including clearing a accumulation of over 50,000 pending promotions and establishing what they're calling a "world-class Fire Academy" to compare with the one in Arizona. Advancement continues, or so they claim.

In my study of bureaucracies devise schemes to benefit their members, but this lifetime salary arrangement takes the cake. Any thinking person would ask: Why not extend such liberality to all public servants? Even more appropriately, to the regular people whose contributions make this possible?

The disparity with other civil workers remains plain as day. Many a police retiree still languish patiently for pensions that barely cover basic needs.

In bringing this tale to a close, I must come again to our subject: Nigeria senior officer lifetime salary. This August 2025 measure tells us volumes about the values of those who rule. And that, esteemed audience, is a fact worth pondering long after you've finished reading these words.