In this interview with Oluwatoyin Malik, the chairperson of the Police Retirees under Contributory Pension Scheme, Oyo State Chapter, ACP Victoria Ladigbolu (rtd), in company with some other executive members, spoke on the need for police retirees to be removed from Contributory Pension Scheme. 

What is the agitation on Contributory Pension Scheme all about?

It came about in 2007, and without any information passed on to those who are now retirees, everyone was conscripted into it. According to the government, anyone who had three more years to serve then must become part of the Contributory Pension Scheme. We were supposed to be briefed that we were eligible to retire then if we didn’t want it, but, unfortunately, the federal government and the Nigeria Police Force did not do so.

The reason became obvious. Throughout the General Sani Abacha administration, the Nigeria Police did not recruit a soul. Definitely, the resultant effect was manpower shortage in due course. If not, some of us who had spent about 31 years in service would have retired. Since we retired now, there has been no increase in our pension; and police retirees believe they exit from the scheme.

How did the Contributory Pension Scheme come about?

It was President Olusegun Obasanjo government that brought it. Before then, we were enlisted in the Defined Benefit Scheme till May, 2007. That one was simple: If you served for 35 years or you turned 60 years old, you would have 300 percent gratuity. Then, your pension would start with 80 percent of your last pay. For example, if your last pay at the time you retired was N100,000, you would be getting N80,000 monthly. But when the Contributory Pension Scheme was brought, it was a sharp contradiction. Anyone retiring after 35 years of service would be given 25 percent as both gratuity and pension.

When the military personnel took their first pension along with us, they thought of the risky jobs they were doing like the police. They went to the National Assembly. We were there together with them. This started in 2011, up to 2014 when the 2007 act was amended. However, for whatever reason, the military, the Department of State Services, the National Intelligence Agency, Defence Intelligence Agency personnel were exited from the Contributory Pension Scheme, leaving the police. 

Not long ago, the National Assembly civil servants also complained and they were also removed from the scheme, even while the agitation by the police was still on.

Also, two years ago, President Muhammadu Buhari removed the Police Generals, that is the Inspector General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police and Assistant Inspector General of Police from the Contributory Pension Scheme with presidential order, leaving the Commissioners of Police down to the least rank. Worse still, there is no increase in our wages.

What have been the coping strategies by the police retirees in relation with the scheme?

We have not been able to cope. We are dying daily. With the current economic situation, we are getting N30,000, N40,000. Retired Inspectors and rank and file are getting N17,000, N15,000. The Federal Government and the National Assembly know that the Contributory Pension Scheme is a killer, that was why they removed the military and others we mentioned.

We didn’t know what they had in mind. The scheme is like a death sentence. It has not achieved anything good. If it is good, the military personnel would not have been removed from it.

What are the steps you are taking to resolve the issue?

That is why we decided to channel the matter through President Bola Tinubu. Though the National Assembly tells us different stories every time, nothing has been happening.

In May this year, our members were at the National Assembly and they were addressed by Senator Yunus Akintunde from Oyo State. He is a member of the Committee on Pension. He promised that by September, things would move up, but we are in November now. In the 9th Assembly, our bill passed the second reading.

Our people are dying. From Oyo State alone, we recently lost 21 of us because at their ages, they couldn’t afford medications to take care of their sicknesses and diseases. I that am speaking is still alive by the grace of God. Our graduate children are jobless. Some of us went through surgeries. The cost of drugs and food has become unaffordable. It is very disturbing. We are dying. We want the President to help us as President Buhari helped the Police Generals. 

Five increases have been approved over the years for pensioners. The first was 17 percent in 2007. The police personnel suffering by being killed by militants, armed robbers and kidnappers in line of duty were not paid. In 2010, there was 33 percent increase across board, but we were denied. In 2018, we were again denied consequential adjustment as a result of N30,000 minimum wage. We also lost N25,000 wage award given to pensioners because of fuel subsidy removal. As we speak now, we have already lost the N32,000 approved by President Tinubu for all pensioners as a result of N70,000 minimum wage 

The question is simple: Are we going to continue to wait and quickly die because we served our country as police personnel? Our job is a very, very risky one. The reason is obvious. For every problem or insecurity or insurgence, it is the police that would first confront the situation headlong. It is only when the police discover the kind of arms that the criminals are using and feel that the calibre of weapons being used is more sophisticated than that of the police that we would write to the president requesting for the military. They (the military) don’t just jump into any situation.

Even the Boko Haram insurgence, it was the police that first confronted them before the military came in. And the police are still working in synergy with the military on the insugency. The criminals are killing both of us. So there’s no security situation in which police are not involved, with casualties. So, why will the government leave the police to languish in penury, to die in the Contributory Pension Scheme? It is unfair, and we are calling on Mr President remove us from the scheme. He is the father to all of us. We are dying.