Police retirees fault inclusion in contributory pension scheme

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The National Union of Police Retirees, Kaduna State Branch has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to assist them by giving an order for the immediate payments of their allowances under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The retirees in an open letter to the President signed by their Chairman, CSP Mannir M. Lawal Zaria(Rtd), stated that about 10 years ago, “police retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme have been struggling to exit from the scheme, and the lawmakers also have been trying to remove the Nigeria Police from the scheme, but to no avail.”
“Sir, with much respect and honor, I want to inform you of the fact that Police Retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) are dying in silence every day as a result of being under this scheme.”
“This emanated as a result of the bad plan of the system, as Police Retirees are denied their pension and gratuity, which is replaced with what they call Lump Sum.
“ This Lump Sum is a disaster because it is what Police Retirees have been contributing, while in service, that on retirement, only 25% of it would be given to a retiree, followed by a meager monthly take home of ₦25,000 to ₦75,000, depending on the rank,” the retirees alleged.
The retirees explained that the reasons why they would want to be removed from the pension scheme were because “nobody can expect any good service skill from the serving Policemen when they are seeing those who retired are under abject poverty, disgrace, humiliation, and begging.
“Also, fear of going on retirement as retirement under Police Department, now is like a death sentence.”