JUST-IN:Police seek to exit contribution pension scheme

The Senate moved on Thursday to correct the inequality in the pension benefits paid to retirees of the Nigeria Police Force and their counterparts in other security agencies by passing a bill to establish the Nigeria Police Pensions Board for second reading.

The bill, when finally passed, will remove the police from the Contributory Pensions Scheme domiciled with the National Pension Commission (PenCom).

The Nigerian Army, Air Force, Navy, and the Department of State Services (DSS) have since exited the contributory pensions scheme.

Leading the debate on the bill on the floor of the Senate in Abuja on Thursday, the sponsor, Sen. Binos Yaroe (PDP, Adamawa-South), told his colleagues that while the police were saddled with the onerous tasks of crime detection, prevention, prosecution of suspects, and other security duties, retirees received peanuts as pension benefits, compared to their counterparts in sister security agencies.

“The resultant inclusion and continuous stay of the NPF in the PENCOM has placed them on the wrong end of the post-service emolument life, even though the Nigeria Police is saddled with the responsibility of not only protecting the lives and property of the citizenry but detecting crimes.”

For instance, he said that while a DSP was paid N2.5 million and ASP paid N1.5 million under the current arrangement, the equivalent of DSP in the Army (Captain), Navy (Lieutenant), Air Force (Flight Lieutenant) and DSS (Captain) are paid N12.8 million and N10.3 million, respectively.”

Yaroe added, “This means that the NPF is receiving the equivalent of 19.5% of the pension benefits of their colleagues in the sister agencies.”

The Senate heard that the primary objective of the bill was to ensure equality and justice in the payment of pension benefits to police retirees by bringing them under a police pensions board.

Senators at the session, which was presided over by the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Barau Jibrin, unanimously supported the passing of the bill for second reading.

The Nigerian Tribune recalls that the issue of removing the security agencies from the contributory pension scheme is not new.

The armed forces began making moves between 2010 and 2013 to exit the scheme and succeeded.