Retired Police Officers in Enugu State have given a 2-week ultimatum to Federal Government to expedite action on exiting the police from the PenCom Pensions Scheme.
The ex-police officers under the auspices of “Retired Police Officers under the Contributory Pension Scheme”, Enugu State Branch, said if the authorities fail to remove them from PenCom scheme, they would move with their families, wives and children to occupy Police Force Headquarters and National Assembly, Abuja.
Addressing a press conference in Enugu on Thursday, the Chairman of the police retirees in the state, Christopher Odugu, appealed to the Government at the centre to establish Police Pension Board with a view to exempting police from PenCom scheme.
Odugu stated the continued stay of Police in PenCom had brought untold hardship to the retirees from the police force.
“We want the Federal Government to amend the 2014 Pension Act so as to save us from dying after serving the country for 35years.
“Our lump-sum and monthly pension are so meager compared to other security agencies like the retired Armed Forces DSS and the National Intelligence Agency.
“Ironically, the Nigerian Army, the DSS and NIA are the children of the Nigeria Police. They were created from the police and perform less functions compared to the role of the Police for the Security of Nigeria.
“It is funny that the Police have been abandoned and neglected in pains to suffer after 35 years of service to the country.
“Members of the Nigeria Police Force being the frontline security agency are involved in sustaining the internal security of this country. They also involve in the performance of other military duties as provided in section 4(e) and section 8 of the Police Act 2020.
“They are exposed to danger daily than other security agencies that are even exempted, and as such deserve better treatment during and after service.
It could be recalled the national body of the Retired Police Officers had recently summited a memorandum seeking the amendment of the Pension Act 2004 and the amended Pension Reform Act 2014 and their implementations alleging that they are dented with fraud and irregularities and is a violation of Section 173 (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) that provides that: “any benefit to which a person is entitled in accordance with or under such law as is referred in subsection (1) of this section shall not be with-held or altered to his disadvantage except to such extent as is permissible under the law including the code of conduct”.
According to them, “the defined benefit scheme that was in operation during our enlistment was altered by the Pension Act 2004 and Pension Reform Act 2014 to the detriment and disadvantage of serving and retired Police Officers.
The memorandum revealed that the registered CPS contributors is 9.72million. This figure include Nigeria Police Force Retirees which is 44,604 between 2007 and 2020.
Parts of it read: “The current total manpower of Nigeria Police Force is 370,000 which is far less than a million as at August 2021 (Wikipedia August 2021), it could even be less than 370,000 because there was a gap in recruitment for about 10 years before the year 2021 and there were retirement usually in trickles and fatalities by both natural causes and violent attacks on particularly serving members.
“NPF retirees under CPS in the past 18 years (2004-2022) will not exceed 44,604. Even if the total strength of the NPF being 370,000 is added to NPF retirees under the CPS from 2004 to date, Pencom will still retain well over 9million contributors in its fold. So, what is this roll back all about? Exiting the police from the CPS will not affect the scheme in any way”.
Prior to the Enugu press briefing, aggrieved retired police officers held a prayer session where they called on God for spiritual intervention.
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