Retired police officers under the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS had yesterday marched in protest shutting down the National Assembly main gate and that of the Force Headquarters in Abuja for hours, demanding that the police should be removed from the pension scheme, which they say has trapped them in poverty. After much plea from the authorities to rescind the idea, the elderly ex-officers refused to disperse until they secured a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Addressing the protesters, the IGP empathized with the ex-officers predicament where he expressed his reservation on their demand for exiting the CPS if that would solve the problem, but stressed the decision lay beyond any one Inspector-General.
Egbotokun revealed that at his capacity as the Police boss, he has been engaging top government officials — including the National Security Adviser — on ways to improve police retirees’ welfare, while cautioned the gathering against being used by external interests.
Accordingly, the Abuja protest capped the icing of the cake as other wave of coordinated agitations of similar retirees from Edo and Kwara states also protested, branding the CPS “a killer scheme.”
In Oyo, however, Take-It-Back activists staged a solidarity demonstration over poor police welfare, even as local retirees stayed away.
Organisers of the protest across the states recalled that the demand to quit the CPS dates back to 2014, making all the promises by former leaders unfulfilled.
Protesting in Abuja yesterday, the retired cops blocked the main gate of the Force Headquarters.
The crowd was in large numbers who obstructed entry and exit into the premises, insisting they would not leave until their grievances were addressed.
Amid the tension, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Adewale Ajao, and the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, came out to appeal to their former collegues to vacate the entrance.
However, they rejected all pleas, and after several hours of protest, they agreed to hold a meeting with the IGP.
The leader of the protesting retirees, CSP Manir Lawal (retd.), said the agitation to exit the CPS started as far back as 2014.
Lawal accused several past Inspectors-General of misrepresenting the interests of police retirees to lawmakers.
According to him, the promises made under the late President Muhammadu Buhari regime to exit the police from the CPS were never fulfilled.
It was learned that “Even when the National Assembly passed the bill, we heard that the then IGP wasn’t satisfied with the contents and wanted amendments,” Lawal disclosed.
He narrated how the retirees had endured years of disappointment and financial hardship, some resorting to sleeping on the floors of the National Assembly to press their demands.
He said, “I am speaking from the bottom of my heart, sir. Virtually, we have nothing at home. A retired CSP cannot even send his children to school. Our condition has deteriorated beyond repair”.
Lawal also raised concerns over unpaid pensions for officers enrolled under some pension administrators, citing African Alliance as owing retirees for over nine months.
The retired officer appealed to the IG and police authorities to treat their concerns with urgency and compassion.
He said, “Even our wives and children no longer respect us. We are becoming useless to society. Please forgive us if we’ve offended anyone. We are just pushing because we have been pushed to the wall.”
In Edo and Kwara, leaders and members of the National Association of Retired Officers urged the police authority to remove them from the pension scheme.
The retirees, who protested in Benin before addressing journalists on the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Benin, alleged that the scheme was characterised by fraud and corruption.
Addressing the journalists, SP Anthony Nnachor (retd.) said the scheme had not been favourable to them, lamenting that most of their members had lost their lives due to the insufficient funds from the scheme.
“We are here to let the whole world know the predicament we are passing through. We are on a peaceful mission. Everybody here with me would have served in the force for 35 years meritoriously.
“It has become imperative for us to tell the world the problem we are going through. We are now living in abject poverty, and we can no longer meet our primary responsibility as parents.
“The majority of us are dying. What is the main reason? The police in 20O4 established a Pension Act. The serving members of the scheme are supposed to contribute 7 per cent, while the federal government will contribute 8 per cent.
“This means that you are working for your retirement. It is the money that you have worked for that they will use to pay you. At the end of your service, they will calculate what we call a lump sum and give you 25 per cent. What we want now is for the Federal Government to exit us from this evil contributory pension scheme,” he said.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to hear their pleas and prevail on relevant agencies that were against their exit from the scheme.
Meanwhile, addressing the demand for their exit fromthe CPS, Egbetokun clarified his stance, insisting he was not opposed to the idea.
“I am not opposed to your exit from the CPS. I’m not opposed to it. If exiting from CPS will solve the problem, I will go for it. But if it is difficult for us to exit CPS, what else can we do? We have been agitating for the past 11 years, and it has not worked,” he said.
The IG recalled that while past administrations have made frantic efforts to pull the police out of the CPS, the process was beyond the powers of any individual Inspector-General.
He explained, “The agitation to exit the CPS has been on since 2014, 11 years ago. All previous IGs tried their best to exclude the police from the CPS. But exiting the CPS is beyond the power of any inspector general of police.
“There are a lot of things that are involved. But what we’re interested in is ensuring that our retired officers live a good life after serving the country for 35 years. That is what we want.
“Even while in the CPS, this is what I have said that people have misconstrued. They have misinterpreted it that it is not until you exit the CPS that you can earn a good pension. Even with the CPS, we can improve the operation of that CPS and ensure that you are happy in retirement.
“There have been several efforts in the past to exit, and it’s not working. So, as IG, I started thinking that we have to start looking for alternative ways of addressing the challenges.
“It’s these alternative ways I’m working on that people are misinterpreting as I am opposing your exit from CPS.”