Some personnel of the Nigeria Police Force are lamenting over the pension scheme presently being used in force.
According to them, they were railroad into it and since then, had seen its evil effect on their retired colleagues.
They alleged that the scheme’s inhuman manner of miserly payment, after taking so much from their salaries, was the reason behind the death and abject poverty of their retired colleagues.
One of the police personnel said: “The situation is so bad that those of us still serve to contribute money monthly to send to our colleagues.
“Many of them are sick and have children who are still young and still in service. Their monthly pension scheme money is nothing to write home about. It is shocking and yet people complained of some police personnel being corrupt and not giving their best.”
Some retired colleagues, they stated, had no accommodation because their monthly pension payment is N15,000.
Some of them alleged that the police management had been keeping quiet over the dreadful payment to retired colleagues. The organisation handling the scheme, decided to up the monthly pension of those in the rank of Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) and Assistant
Inspector General of Police (AIG), rather than to increase it across the board.
They expressed shock and dissatisfaction over the police management’s continual adherence to the pension scheme, even knowing that other uniform personnel had pulled out of it.
The Police Pension Scheme and its adverse effect on policemen after retirement has been an ongoing issue, with the police personnel, serving and retired, who are directly affected demanding to be removed.
The Senate has been considering a bill seeking to establish the Police Pension Board. The bill was sponsored by Senator Elisha Ishaku.
He stated that the police were left under the
Contributory Pension Scheme, while the Army, Navy, Airforce, Department of State Security Services (DSS), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) each have their Pension boards.
Ishaku said that he was shocked after discovering the disparities between the other uniform organisation and the Police.
A serving Assistant Superintendent of Police, who will be retiring soon, said: “Until government finds a solution to these disparities in pension scheme payment, and cause the Police to exit it, the security situation in the country will continue to worsen. This pension scheme, among other shabby treatments of police personnel, has killed the morale of an average policeman, forcing many to go into corruption, aiming for survival after retirement.”
He explained that former President Olusegun Obasanjo created an Act in 2004, which moved Police to the Contributing Pension Scheme.
He added: “Our sister agencies exited that scheme, while police have continued to remain with it. Police did not know that the scheme was a death sentence after retirement. A Level 10 in personnel, which is equivalent to a lieutenant in the Army, after retirement will be paid a million by the Federal Government and later his monthly pension will be N250,000, likewise DSS and
NIA, all at the same rank or level.
“But in the police, an ASP, which is the equivalent to level 10, goes home with a gratuity of N1.5 million and a monthly pension of N15,000. When we shouted marginalisation, PENCOM, which is authorised by FG to administer the pension, had a private meeting with them and increased the monthly payment of IGP to N3 million, DIG N1.5 million and AIG to N1.2 million. They were asked not to let anyone know about it so that other ranks would not know. From the ranks of police commissioners downward were not affected.”
He further mentioned: “Our retired colleagues have been weeping, but nobody is paying attention and, one day, it will soon be our turn. After 35 years, police personnel are sent home to die, and the government continue to turn deaf ears to our lamentations. PSC, the Police management team, NLC and the national
assembly are all pretending not to know that we have a serious problem. Our pension scheme is nothing but sheer slavery.”
A retired CP also has something to say about the matter.
He said: “We are not being paid well. When someone works for 35 years as a Commissioner of Police, the person will start collecting the monthly payment of N100,000 and N60,000. They will pay N6 million as gratuity.
There are CPs, who are paid less. The situation is
horrible. They have removed the ranks of the IGP to AIG. When people work and retire, they retire to suffering. When someone knows that when he retires, he would be taken care of by the government, he or she would put effort into his or her job.
How can someone work for 35 years and is given a pension of N14, 000 and N10,000 monthly?”
An ASP, who recently retired, said: “We are under CPC, and we are not supposed to, but they are keeping our money and instead of increasing it, they would be giving us peanut at the end of 35 years of service, while Defence and other sister agencies are taking huge amount as salary. We demanded answers and that is our predicament.
“A DCP will be taking N2.2 million, which
is equivalent to Captain rank in the army. In the
military, the captain collects N15 million, and this
means it doesn’t tally at all! I left NPF as a two-star officer, an ASP and tragically what I was given as gratuity after 35 years of service was less than N2 million, while my monthly pension collection is N36,000. I can’t cope with such a miserly monthly amount.
“In fact, since my retirement, a lot of
misfortunes have befallen me because of my poor pension. I stopped my children from going to private secondary school and presently waiting for September to enrol them in a public school. I have been facing a lot of crises and I never knew this is how the future would
be.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t have joined the police. I joined the police with passion burning in my heart and I served this country with passion. I was always put in the field; I worked with anti-robbery, fighting armed robbers and curbing crimes in this country.
“But today, what do I have to show for it? I refused to join in corruption and now I am regretting it. My joy is I didn’t die in my
years of service.”
Those complaining lack deep understanding of scheme, says expert
The New Telegraph Newspaper Pension Editor, Sunday Ojeme, however, said PENCOM couldn’t have increased the monthly take-home pension of the IGP, DIGs and AIGs.
His words: “The police personnel, including the retired IGP, are paid according to what they contributed while serving. If, they, however, claimed that PENCOM bribes the police management team, so that they wouldn’t pull them out of the contributing pension scheme, then that is a different matter, which I am not even sure of.”
Speaking on the agitations of the police personnel to be pulled out of the contributing scheme, Ojeme said: “Their agitation is not genuine. It is mainly based on their lack of deep understanding of how the scheme works. Till now, most people including the police are
yet to distinguish between the DBS pension programme (entirely government funded) and the CPS programme (where employees and employers contribute to their pension).
“For instance, let’s look at the issue of
lumpsum, which is part of their agitations. The lumpsum- the money paid on retirement before the balance is calculated and spread as pension- is calculated based on certain factors including the retiree’s last pay and other things including how much he contributed.
“Therefore, two people could join the system same day, retire sameday but their lumpsum payments and even pension would be different. Moreover, the essence of setting up the CPS is to ensure a retiree has some money to survive on while on retirement. Until people understand this, they will continue to agitate that more of their
contributions be given to them.
“Police should even consider themselves lucky to be on the CPS arrangement because taking them back to any other arrangement would also mean going back to the pains of the past when pensioners were collapsing and dying while trying to be verified and paid.
“Moreover, it will also cost the government a lot of money to get them into another scheme at the moment.
“Instead of agitating to be excluded, they should demand that their salaries be increased to reflect on their lump sum and pension.”
PENCOM has no money for bribes, says Dahiru
julianafrancisnews.com reached out to the Head of Corporate Communications, National Pension
Commission (PenCOM), Abdulqadir Dahiru.
His explanation is presented verbatim below:
“The National Pension Commission is not the body that employs police officers, determines their salary or emolument. We don’t have the power to add money to the police, IG or AIG pension scheme.The Pension Reform Act is very clear that all workers of government and private sector organisations that have three staff or more, must go through this Contributory Pension Scheme and whether you are an
IGP or otherwise, you should contribute.
However, in recognition that the police is a unique institution and they move from place to place, the government says to improve as these police personnel were finding it difficult to access their money.
For instance, one can register a policeman at Abuja, he may retire in Bayelsa, and one may not even know when he has been transferred or moved to, so collecting their benefits became an issue.
“Government agreed that the police should be allowed to set up their own Pension Fund Administrator, that will be exclusively managed pension contribution of policemen and officers, which was why and how the Nigeria Police Force PFA was set up.
“To also improve the welfare of these police personnel the PAC further also set up a retirement resettlement scheme, under which all men and officers of the police when they leave office, even before government pay their accrued rights, a certain amount is paid to them.
“This retirement resettlement scheme is not available to other civil servant workers or uniform organisations.I am not aware that IGPs, DIGs and AIGs, that their pensions have been increased.
“The National Pension Scheme Pension does not have any money to bribe anybody.
We don’t do it and we have never done it. How does one account for the money, especially when preparing to pay salaries and maintain your services? Whom do you want to bribe? How do you want to bribe them?
“Honestly, that is an allegation without basis.
As far as police pension is being low compared to other sister agencies, the pension scheme is a function of salary or whatever a worker gets as salary.
“The pension is a function of salary. The Pension
Reform Act 2014 says each contributor or employer will contribute 10 per cent of his or her monthly emolument.
“This emolument is defined as his basic housing and transport. If my salary is N400,000 and my emolument is N200,000, that means my pension contribution will be N36,000.
“On the other hand, if my total emolument is N50,000, that means my total emolument will be N9,000. So whatever people get, it is a function of their
salaries.
“I don’t know what the salary structure of the police, immigration, Customs and other uniform organisations is. Maybe those making these allegations, have acomplete idea of the salary structures of other sister agencies, but we do not.
“In a recent public hearing at the National Assembly on police pension, the commission made it clear, that the Pension Reform Act stipulates only a minimum and this minimum is 18 per cent.
“An employer can decide to pay more contributions to his employees. If the federal government desires or wishes to do, it can decide to pay 20 or 30 per cent of the monthly monument of the police officers as a
pension contribution.
“In a nutshell, what I am trying to say is that PENCOM does not determine what to pay police retirees.
“What determines what police get is the amount of pension contribution that is remitted for them, and as far as the government is concerned for all workers of government, is that what is remitted is 18 per cent.
“It is left for the police to go out and discuss with their employer the specific means of their pension and find a way to negotiate something with their employer, National Pension Commission does not determine what is paid to the police.
julianafrancisnews also reached out to a retired AIG, to find out about the alleged ‘bribe’ given to retired IGP, DIG and AIG, ostensibly to make the present Police Management Team, who will be beneficiary of thebribe after retirement, not to give in to the pressure of exiting the present contributory scheme.
According to the AIG, the personnel should be seeking a revamp of the police system, better salary, and welfare, to be commensurate with other uniform agencies, rather than be steeped in pulling others down.
He also explained that their pension money was not increased, just that those on the rank of IGP, DIG and AIG, would be beneficiaries of salary for life.
Below is the AIG’s narration verbatim.
“We’re only beneficiaries of salary for life, says AIG
“We entered the service and they said we have a
voluntary contribution which we would make and it’s a mandatory contribution of salary.
“We started with about N300 to N500, later they brought it to N1200. Every month, they deduct it from your salary because it is mandatory. But there is also voluntary which you can make by yourself.
“As for me, right from day one as ASP, I have done the mandatory and voluntary. Voluntary I used to take N20,000 from my salary, but later I increased it to N25,000. And over 20 years, I have been able to remove N500,000 to do something.
“Later, I move it to N50,000 and then N100,000 before I retired. Someone cannot look at voluntary orcompulsory contributions and say why is his own not like this or that. whatever you get from the pension is a product of the contribution.
“Whatever you get at the end of your pension is the product of your salary. That means that you would have to look at this issue and I think if proper research is carried out, you will discover that the structure there is that the police did not establish any structure for its personnel all along.
“If they want to do anything now, that would be
favourable to the police, it should be done to affect people who have up to 20 years left in the service.
Police salaries should be improved.
“Now, the people who will benefit are not the people leaving the Force in five-year time, but the people coming behind and that is basically what I think.
“If they are to meet what they are hoping for, it means they should backdate the salary to a year back to be with the people that are staying, with the military and that will cost the government trillions of naira. They will not want to do it, but for it to work, whatever they do must be backed by the legislature.
“What is making the EFCC work is because of the legal instrument provided for them. You come in and you meet into the system, and you meet that structure on the ground.The first salary is one of the first things that should be involved.
“How can a Captain that is serving be earning
N500,000 and a serving Police Commissioner earns N400,000? The Police have not complained over the years because of all the money they get while working, the nonsense ‘égunje.’
“The people that should be looked at now, are probably the CSP downward, but any impact on their salary that they would have now it should be personnel who have maybe between 20 and 30 left to retirement in the NPF.
“So that by the time they retire, they will have a big salary and they will benefit from it after retirement.
“The problem is not the monthly pension, the problem is what was on the ground when one retires. Our sister agency, Customs, those on the ranks equivalent to a Commissioner of Police, usually retire with their vehicles, but it is not so in the police.
“To even get a vehicle when I was serving, I had to use my money to fix an abandoned vehicle, which we started using at my station.
“Salary for life means what one is receiving- let’s say one has not retired and the person is receiving a salary of N700,000 or N50,000 as AIG, which means the personnel, even after retirement, will continue to receive that same amount.
“It means your salary remains the same for life. It means you have those rights andprivileges with revenues based on RMAFC recommendation.”
“However, it is not only their Pension scheme the Police are complaining about. They are also complaining about the Police Cooperative Voluntary Contribution.
A message sent to julianafrancisnews.com, states thus:
“Who is going to save us from this menace! Are police cooperatives going into extinction? The main reason we do this voluntary contribution is for us to have something to fall back on when emergency beckons. It’s unfortunate today that most of our colleagues who didn’t participate in the contribution are now making jest of us.
“They are thanking God for not participating,
saying, ‘nothing good can come out of police
cooperative.’ Many of us have applied to get a fraction of our contribution since February this year (2022), but nothing to show for it. What we hear each time we visit the co-operative office in Lagos is that the AIG Cooperative is not around to sign the schedule. Haba!
“Does it take six months for the AIG to be in his office?
“Or are they trying to kill us in silence? Somebody
should save our souls. This is not our Pension Scheme!
“It is our voluntary savings! Why is it taking forever to get our money? What then happens if the police take charge of our pension? Wouldn’t it be worse? I weep for NPF.
“Somebody should please appeal to the IGP to help us out. We need our voluntary co-operative contribution.”
Source: Juliana Francis News