Stakeholders at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives, have called for the exemption of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The House on Tuesday held a public hearing on two pension Bills namely ‘The Bill For An Act To Amend The Pension Reform Act, 2014 To Provide For The Exemption Of The Nigeria Police Force From The Contributory Pension Scheme And For Related Matters’, and ‘A Bill For An Act To Amend Sections 1(C), 7(2), 8(1), 18, 24 And 99 Of The Pension Reform Act, Cap P50 LFN 2014 By Providing That A Pensioner Shall Receive At Least 75% Of His Retirement Benefits Immediately Upon Retirement And Criminalise The Undue Delay In The Payment Of Pensions And For Related Matters.’
Sponsor of the Bill to exempt the police from the CPS, Hon. Francis Ejiroghene Waive, said operating under the current pension scheme has been both unpalatable and regrettable for the retirees of the Nigerian Police Force.
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He argued that the police be exempted from the scheme just like the Armed Forces and the Department of State Services (DSS).
“For example, the highest retirement benefit of a Deputy Superintendent of Police under this obnoxious pension scheme is N2.5m and that of Assistant Superintendent of Police is N1.5m while their equivalent in Army (Captain) and DSS are paid N12.8m and N10.3m respectively. Upon retirement, the monthly take-home of a retired Police DSP is just N31,600 while that of a Captain, an equivalent in the Army is N180,000. While for the Police Inspector is N15,000, a warrant officer, the Army equivalent to a Police Inspector takes home N120,000. Ladies and gentlemen, what is good for the goose are good for the gander,” he said.
He said in these days of insecurity across the nation, exempting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme could just be the magic to motivate officers and men of the Force to go the extra mile and save the country.
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For his part, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, said the Police should get equal treatment with services of the Armed Forces and other intelligence services, especially as the lead agency, saddled with the responsibility of maintaining the internal security, law and order in the country, with attendant risk and sacrifices, including the supreme price.
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