Retired police officers under the Contributory Pension Scheme on Monday marched from the National Assembly and shut the main gate of the Force Headquarters in Abuja for hours, demanding that the police be removed from the scheme, which they say has trapped them in poverty.
The elderly ex-officers refused repeated pleas to disperse until they secured a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Facing the protesters, Egbetokun expressed sympathy and insisted he was not opposed to the police exiting the CPS if that would solve the problem, but stressed the decision lay beyond any one Inspector-General.
He said he had been engaging top government officials — including the National Security Adviser — on ways to improve police retirees’ welfare, and cautioned the crowd against being used by outside interests.
The Abuja showdown capped a wave of coordinated agitations as retirees in 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 across the states recalled that the push to quit the CPS dates back to 2014, yet promised reforms remained unfulfilled.
In Abuja on Monday, the retired cops blocked the main gate of the Force Headquarters.
The demonstrators gathered in large numbers and 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 them to vacate the entrance.
The protesters, however, rejected all pleas, and after several hours of protest, they agreed to hold a meeting with Egbetokun.
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.
He also lamented that promises made under the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration to exit the police from the CPS were never fulfilled.
“Even when the National Assembly passed the bill, we heard that the then IGP wasn’t satisfied with the contents and wanted amendments. That stalled the process,” Lawal said.
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.
“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,” he said.
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.
Also speaking, the publicity secretary of the association, SP Johnson Oyameda, advocated the abolition of the Nigeria Police Force Pension due to its fraudulent nature.
He appealed to Egbetokun to help them facilitate the process of exiting from the contributory pension scheme.
The Kwara State chapter of the Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria held a peaceful demonstration in Ilorin on Monday.
While calling for their exit from the pension scheme, the protesters sought the establishment of a police pension board with sole responsibility for overseeing the pension matters of the police.
The ex-police officers brandished placards with various inscriptions, demanding their exit from the scheme.
The Chairman of the state chapter of ARPON, Yakubu Jimoh, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police, speaking at the Press Centre of the state council of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ilorin, pleaded with President Tinubu to urgently come to their aid.
He said the retired police officers should be removed from the contributory pension scheme, adding that the force pension board should be established to manage the pension of the officers.
He also called on the Federal Government and National Assembly to fast-track the legislative process on the disbursement of the N758bn, a pension shortfall owed to security agencies, saying that the retired officers were told that payment was scheduled for June 2025, but wondered why the delay.
In the letter of agitation made available to the press, Jimoh said, “Our exit being advocated should be outright removal from the scheme. Since the inception of the contributory pension scheme, it has been one problem or the other.
“It is unfortunate that officials of the National Pension Commission/Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), who came to deliver a lecture on the workings of the scheme, do not state their bitter experiences in the hands of their host to their masters when they get back.
“We have always resented this contributory pension scheme, whose gratuity and monthly pension are just a pittance and not a living wage.
“We are all witnesses to the lamentations of the retired police officers on social media. Imagine the Superintendent of Police being paid N2.4m as his gratuity after 35 years of meritorious service and a paltry N30,000 as monthly pension.”
The Legal Adviser of ARPON, Adekunle Iwalaiye, said the retired officers deserved to be paid a living pension away from the crumbs they received monthly.
Iwalaiye, a retired Superintendent of Police, tasked the government to act on the demand of the retirees, considering the meritorious services they rendered to the country for 35 years.
In Ibadan, Oyo State, retired police officers were absent at the peaceful protest staged by the Take-It-Back movement at the entrance of the state police command, Eleyele.
The state coordinator of the Movement, Solomon Eniola, expressed “displeasure over non-payment of pensions, and poor treatment of officers who had served the nation diligently.
“I, therefore, called on the government to recognise the sacrifices made by police officers and ensure that their welfare is prioritised.”
IG vows action
Speaking with the aggrieved former officers at the Force Headquarters, the IG expressed empathy for their situation, stating that the issue of poor retirement benefits was a concern for serving officers as well.
He said, “We all feel concerned. We empathise with you because we are also going to retire. I have been engaging at the highest level to ensure that something is done to improve the condition of the poor pensioner.”
Egbetokun disclosed that he had just come from a meeting with the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, where the welfare of retired police officers was also discussed.
He said, “Even right now, I was just coming from a meeting with the NSA. The subject matter is the poor pension of retired officers. There are things that we need to do to ensure that your suffering in retirement is alleviated.
“There are several things that we have done, steps that I have been taking, the details of which I would not like to disclose to the press at present.
“But I just want to assure you that we empathise with you and we are not just folding our arms. We are doing a lot to ensure that something is done.”
Addressing the demand for the police to exit the 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 also stressed that while past administrations made efforts to pull the police out of the CPS, the process was beyond the powers of any individual Inspector-General.
He said, “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.”
