Retired police officers, wives protest over pension bill

Retired police officers and their wives on Wednesday staged a protest at the National Assembly in Abuja, demanding that President Bola Tinubu assent to a bill seeking to exempt the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The protesters, under the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, accused the federal government of delaying action on the bill, which they said would address the poor retirement benefits paid to former police personnel.

The protest was part of an indefinite demonstration that resumed on September 29, 2026, following what the group described as the failure of previous engagements with government officials to resolve the matter.

The forum’s leader, CSP Raphael Irowainu (retd.), said the National Assembly passed the bill on December 4, 2025, and transmitted it to the president on March 16, 2026.

He accused the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and police management of opposing the proposed exemption, alleging that their actions had contributed to the delay in the president’s assent.

Irowainu said the retirees were no longer satisfied with assurances that their welfare would improve, insisting that their main demand was the removal of the police from the scheme.

The protest followed a demonstration at PenCom’s headquarters in Abuja on Monday, where the retirees reportedly spent about seven hours demanding that the commission stop opposing the bill.

According to Irowainu, PenCom’s secretary and legal adviser, Mohammed Sani, who represented the Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, appealed for calm and assured the protesters that efforts were being made to improve their retirement benefits.

The retirees, however, insisted that they wanted an exemption rather than improved benefits under the existing arrangement.

Irowainu said the military, Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency and National Assembly had been exempted from the contributory pension system, introduced in 2004.

He said retired Assistant Superintendents of Police received lump-sum payments of between N2.1 million and N2.5 million, with monthly pensions of about N25,000.

According to him, retired superintendents received between N2.5 million and N2.8 million, with monthly pensions of N35,000 to N40,000, while retired Commissioners of Police received between N7 million and N9 million, with monthly pensions of N90,000 to N100,000.

He said the payments were inadequate to meet retirees’ basic needs, including medical expenses.

The forum’s leader further alleged that more than 20 members had died in the preceding six months because they could not afford medical treatment.

Irowainu said the group had protested at the Presidential Villa in April and engaged the Inspector-General of Police, the Ministries of Justice and Police Affairs, but had yet to secure a satisfactory resolution.

He vowed that the retirees would continue their protest until Tinubu assented to the bill or the government took concrete steps to address their grievances.