RETIRED Police officers took to the streets across the country last week Monday to protest poor retirement benefits and meagre monthly pensions. One of the protesters who retired as a Chief Superintendent of Police, Manir Lawal, aged 67, painted a gory picture of what most police pensioners are passing through. Let me quote him: ‘’I am 67 years old. Many of us here are in our 60s and 70s. We have served this country faithfully and deserve to retire in dignity. This Contributory Pension scheme has impoverished us. It is our right to demand better’’.
Another protester said: ‘’I am receiving N20,000 as pension after serving for 35 years. This is the receipt, how can anybody survive with this in Nigeria’s harsh economy, let alone take care of children and family?”. A retired ASP also said: “I am receiving N22,000. And I was an ASP (Assistant Superintendent of Police) before I retired’.
That is the lot of most retired Police officers in Nigeria. After putting their lives on the line in service to their fatherland, many of them are left dejected and broken. They are unable to take care of themselves, not to talk of their families.
Few weeks back, a retired Superintendent of Police rejected his retirement benefits of just N2million. But in doing so, he lamented his plight in a video posted on social media which immediately went viral. In the widely circulated video, the officer, who retired on October 1, 2023, expressed deep frustration over what he described as a meagre payout.
He said that the Nigeria Police Pension Board recently informed him that his total retirement benefits had been approved at ₦3 million, an amount including ₦1 million in arrears covering the period from October 2023 to date, and ₦2 million as his full terminal benefit. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, was forced to order a thorough investigation into the claims made by the retired officer after the police came under severe criticism on social media.
“The IGP has ordered a thorough investigation into the allegations raised in a viral video by a retired Superintendent of Police concerning the welfare and retirement benefits of police pensioners. The IGP has tasked the NPF Pensions Limited to urgently examine the claims, identify any possible lapses, and ensure that appropriate action is taken to address the concerns raised. The Nigeria Police Force is not insensitive to the plight of its pensioners, many of whom dedicated their lives to the service and safety of our nation.
The IGP views the welfare of both serving and retired officers as a priority and recognises that timely and adequate pension administration is crucial to sustaining morale and institutional integrity. While efforts have consistently been made to improve the pension system, the IGP acknowledges the importance of constructive feedback in prompting necessary reforms,” Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Force’s Public Relations officer said in a statement.
The protesting retirees are demanding to be placed under a Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), similar to that enjoyed by the Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) and the Department of State Services (DSS). Under the DBS, the pension is a predetermined amount, often based on the retiree’s final salary and years of service, and is paid entirely by the government. The retirees argue that this system provides more financial security to police officers in retirement.
In addition to exiting the CPS, the retired officers are calling for the establishment of a dedicated Police Pensions Board to manage their pension affairs, similar to the Military Pension Board. They believe that this would ensure their unique needs and welfare are better addressed, unlike the current arrangement, where their funds are managed by the NPF Pensions Limited, a dedicated Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) for the police.
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) however, contend that exiting the CPS would be financially unsustainable for the federal government, potentially creating a pension liability of trillions of Naira, which seems to prioritise government savings over the welfare of pensioners.
Already, a Bill for an Act to establish the Police Pension Board is currently before the National Assembly. It seeks to create a separate Board charged with the responsibility of paying pensions and gratuities to personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, including retirees who left service before the enactment of the law. Would the bill become law? Only time will tell.
One of the key motivations for establishing the CPS under the Pension Reform Act of 2004 (amended in 2014) was to address the persistent problems of the old Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS), including delays in payment, corruption, mismanagement, and the unsustainable financial burden it imposed on the government. Under the DBS, pension payments depended solely on budgetary allocations, and countless retirees were left without their entitlements for years. It was a system plagued by inefficiency, lack of transparency, and rampant fraud, as evidenced by the infamous Police Pension Task Team saga under Abdulrasheed Maina, which ended in financial scandal and worsened the plight of retirees.
Section 4(4) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 provides a legal pathway for enhancing retirement benefits without exiting the CPS. It allows any employer, including government agencies, to increase their pension contributions or offer additional benefits through an Approved Existing Scheme (AES) or Additional Benefits Scheme (ABS). Agencies such as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and PenCom have all taken advantage of this provision to boost the post-service welfare of their personnel. For instance, the FRSC retains 40 per cent of its internally generated revenue for personnel welfare, including additional pension benefits. There is nothing stopping the NPF from adopting a similar formula.
The primary role of the police force is to uphold and enforce laws, investigate crimes and ensure security for people in the country. In many ways, the police are grossly incapacitated from playing that role. Most of the police stations across the country are in deplorable conditions. Yet, if the police must live up to its responsibilities, it must be adequately equipped. A force entrusted to secure the nation cannot perform in the face of antiquated equipment and low morale.
And the low morale is essentially a function of their monthly take home pay. Currently, in the police force, the salary of the lowest rank in the force – a Constable – ranges from N84,000 to N86,000. For a Sergeant, it is between N96,000 and N119,000; for an Inspector, between N167,000 and N254,000; for an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), it’s between N271,000 and N296,000. For a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), it’s around N321,000, while for a Superintendent of Police (SP), its N342,000. A Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) earns N419,000, while an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) earns N483,000. A Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) earns N531,000, and a Commissioner of Police (CP) earns N1.5 million.
It is from these meagre salaries that a fraction is deducted as CPS, while the police also set aside a fraction of those salaries to the PFAs. After retirement, what comes back to the retirees are so meagre that it cannot take care of a single adult for one week in Nigeria not to talk of an average man with a wife and children.
Over the years, the federal government has established several panels and presidential committees to address areas of police reforms, including efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness. The challenge, however, is that while the promise to reform the police is loud, there is no indication that it is being seriously pursued even amidst the growing violence and insecurity across the country. That perhaps explains why many of the reports and recommendations of all the reforms committees are still gathering dust on the shelves.
Such recommendations include the recent endorsement of state police by critical stakeholders, including the 36 Governors and the President. Many retired senior police officers have also put their weight behind the idea of State Police on grounds that it would improve the management of internal security and the maintenance of law and order. The compelling argument is that such officers would have local knowledge of the environment and would be more effective in dealing with local crimes, protecting law and order, and in intelligence gathering.
The no-love-lost between the Police Service Commission and the Inspector-General of police is another sore issue that should be addressed. The Buhari administration planned to recruit 40,000 policemen in four years, but the first exercise to recruit 10,000 ended in a fiasco, as both parties could not agree on the modalities for the recruitment exercise. This is a shame that both parties should not be proud of.
While elected public officials who serve for only four years sometimes leave office with accumulated salaries that double what an average police officer would earn in a lifetime, their pensions for those four years of service are astronomical. Again, enhancing benefits within the existing CPS framework to address the concerns of retired officers as suggested by PenCom is viewed with suspicion by the pensioners.
When a person has been exploited throughout their working life by the very systems that are meant to protect them, it is only natural for them to be wary. Any system that potentially tinkers with their futures while prioritising the government’s finances over public welfare deserves to be frowned upon.
While it is true that the police are not everyone’s favourite due to constant human rights violations, bad attitudes towards the masses, and their dismal performances in most instances, it is important to understand that the issues that the pensioners are fighting for are central to the state of policing in the country. The police may not be everyone’s friend, but they are human beings who often risk their lives in service and deserve to be treated humanely and with dignity.
Addressing the concerns of the pensioners with honesty, sincerity, and the primary objective of improving their conditions will significantly boost the morale of police officers currently serving. And God knows we need more honest and upright Nigerians in the Force. Until we improve the salaries as well as the welfare of serving police officers, we would continue to have disgruntled police officers in service and even after their retirement.
In truth, the conditions of the serving police officers is nothing to write home about. Most of their barracks are in a deplorable state. Many of them have to buy their own uniforms and boots. It is no longer news that some police officers wear bathroom slippers while on duty, while some of them reek of alcohol most of the time.
Years of neglect has taken a terrible toll on the psyche of the average policemen and they now take out their anger and frustration on the helpless masses they are employed to protect. But without adequately taking care of their welfare, we are still joking about tackling corruption in the force and in the country. If the welfare of the police is improved, it would attract the right calibre of Nigerians to the Force – those that would not be tempted to accept or demand for bribes and would be willing to uphold the law and order in the service of their fatherland.
See you next week.
- Akintunde is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Glittersonline newspaper. His syndicated column, Monday Discourse, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.