Police retirees decry poor treatment, seeks IGP’s intervention

Retired Police Officers under Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS) have reacted to what it termed as, “propaganda aimed at image laundering by the NPF Pensions Limited and the pension Commission,” recently published in a national daily and replicated in some social media platforms.

This was contained In a Statement signed by 16 of its states’ Chapter Chairmen and four others, entitled, “Retired Police Officers under Contributory Pension Scheme applauded no one,” and made available to journalists in Calabar on Tuesday.

In the release, the group claimed that, the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) had denied police retirees of periodic increment of their monthly pensions.

The group also lamented that, the DIG ‘A’ Department who is supposed to preside over a joint Committee set up by the Inspector General of Police to draft a proposed Bill for an amendment of the Pension Act 2014’ is not available to convene the joint meeting.

It, therefore, appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba to intervene by ordering the DIG A to discontinue the current zonal tour with NPF Pensions Limited and focus on drafting the proposed Bill as soon as possible, for presentation to the National Assembly.

According to the group this will facilitate the exit of Nigeria Police Force from the Cintributory Pension Scheme (CPS) with immediate effect.

The group explained that the recently announced consequential adjustment of pension allowance by the Federal Government in line with section 173 (3) of the constitution as amended, did not include police retirees under CPS,.

It maintained that, “no police retiree under CPS who has been exposed to the highest level of frustration and abandonment after suffering to keep the peace of this nation, will ever applaud those who have seized their terminal benefits to run a private profit making business in which the owners of the money (police retirees) are not stakeholders.”

The retirees also claimed that the crowd shown in the publication and the clip which NPF Pensions Limited is relying on were “hired crowd.

“it is unthinkable that police officers who enlisted into the force under Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) and had served this nation up to pensionable years before the introduction of CPS could be coerced into a system that has robbed them of their entitlements, ” it said.

The group wondered why “Service Chiefs in other Agencies and the leadership of other organisations are working to better the living standard of their serving and retired personnel, while the reverse is the case in the police.

It maintained that, “the approval of 2.5 percent by the President is not a favour done to anybody as it is the entitlement of the employee that is due the employee following the review of employer and the employee rate of contribution.

“The propaganda of 300 percent special gratuity for retired police officers awaiting the President’s approval is too old a story to be repeated after four years, ” it said.

The group also frowned at the denial of the 300 percent annual basic salary and the 80 percent monthly basic salary as gratuity and monthly pension on retirement.

According to the retirees: “the gratuity has been replaced with what is described as lump sum which is far below 25 percent of annual salary of a retiree after 35 years of meritorious service and a monthly pension of what is less than 20 percent of the last monthly basic salary of the retiree.”

The group reminded the IGP that, it was still awaiting his invitation to the joint meeting of the DIG “A”, the police retirees and other stakeholders towards the implementation of the outcome of the senate investigative hearing of the petition.