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• Angry police retirees wonder why IGP, DIG, AIG are not part of ‘evil’ scheme
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The visibly angry retirees of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in Kaduna State have described the contributory pension scheme managed by Pension Trust company as a big scam and embarrassing.
The retirees, who had served the country through the NPF for 35 years, further described their inability to have access to the total money they have contributed while in service in their lifetime as worrisome and unnecessary.
To them, a situation whereby some people are using their money to enrich themselves while the contributors and their families languish in untold hardship would do the country no good but rather add to its corruption index because those in service would not want to end up like those ahead of them.
They also queried the withdrawal of the top echelon of the force, including Inspector General of Police (IGP), Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) from the contributory pension scheme if it were as good as they made them believe.
Speaking to Daily Sun, Chairman, Association of Police Retirees, Kaduna State chapter, Manir Lawal Zaria, who retired as a chief superintendent of police, on November 1, 2018, after serving the country for 35 years, said he has been suffering too much.
“I have lost respect even in my house because I can no longer take care of my family financially. The so-called contributory pension is terrible, killing and disastrous.
“It is making us inhumane. We have been reduced to beggars. Some of our helpers no longer pick up their calls when we call. That is the situation we found ourselves in.
“We are expecting the members of the National Assembly, as they promised that after the budget defence, they will exit us from this contributory pension. We want them to fulfill the promise they made to us.
“We also hope that President Bola Tinubu will sign the bill once it gets to his table. But before then, let him give an order that the 25 percent should be given to us without further delay. We need to survive the current economic situation,” he said.
To retired Superintendent Yahaya Musa, his employer did not tell him at the entry point that he would be handed over to another company which has now subjected him and other retirees to avoidable suffering.
“In reality, we are suffering. When we joined the Nigerian Police about four decades ago, we were not told that we would be handed over to another company upon retirement.
“This contributory pension is a menace to us. We cannot afford to pay our children’s school fees. Now we are talking about how to eat, not how to send our children to school.
“So, we are appealing to the National Assembly to kindly look into this issue very well and we don’t want them to invite the IGP on our behalf because he is not part and parcel of us. The AIG, DIG and IGP are not in the contributory pension scheme. Even if he is invited, he will not talk in our favour.
“We are being cheated. We want to exit totally from this contributory pension. I retired on March 15, 2018. To be honest, 95 percent of us are not living well because of bad conditions the so-called contributory pension scheme has subjected us to,” he lamented.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pius, said it was the police hierarchy that sold him into this contributory pension scheme. He said: “They removed themselves from it. That means when they retire, they will be retiring with their money. But when we retired, our money would be divided into three.
“They give one part and say they are taking the other two parts to the Pension Trust and return it to our family. There was no such agreement with anybody at any time. At our age, we cannot fulfill our responsibility to our children. Some of them have run away from home.
“In other climes, house and good money will be made available upon retirement as a policeman or policewoman. But in Nigeria, we don’t get what is due to us.”
As far as Haruna Ibrahim Moses, who retired on August 1, 2007, was concerned, his monthly pension was nothing to write home about.
“As a retired deputy superintendent of police, they are paying me N28,000 monthly. I have a friend who is a retired sergeant in the Nigerian Army, who is collecting N100,000. Compare it to me who is an officer in the NPF.
“As I’m talking to you, the Trust Fund company told me the money has finished in my account. They did not pay me anything last December and January is about to end.
“The pension rule we know is to take pension through your lifetime after retirement. Obasanjo introduced this pension idea. We never knew it would be like this. They increased the pension but we don’t see that increment. Even the little they are paying me is shaking. I need help,” the senior citizen said.
Esther Markus, a deputy superintendent of police, described life after retirement as “the doing of the federal government and its cohorts.” To her, a good government should take care of its retired citizens.
She said: “With my rank, an equivalent to a captain in the Nigerian Army, I’m supposed to be paid about N15 million upon retirement and subsequently N280,000 per month. But upon retirement, I was paid just N1.7 million and a monthly pension of N40,000.
“How do I cope? It is so painful. Our problem is this IGP. They removed themselves from the ranks of AIG, DIG, and IG. They removed themselves from this scam called contributory pension scheme.
“We are just as if we are in a dungeon. The danger is that those who are still in service are seeing and taking note of this. It will simply tell them to cut corners because no one will want to retire into suffering. This is what is encouraging corruption in the police today.
“We have seen that President Tinubu loves the police. Please, let him demonstrate his love for us by removing us from this evil.
“We are still capable of supporting in the fight against crimes in the country. We learn and we live our life by experience. Many of us can still carry rifles because it is by experience. I joined the police at age 15 and retired at age 50 with a lot of energy. So, I’m still strong.”
Mr. Moses Adari retired in 2010 and since then his monthly pension has been N20,000. He wondered how he can survive on such in Nigeria of today.
He said: “They are paying me N20,000 every month. How can I survive? How?
“If they fail to address the issue of police, the fight against terrorism and banditry will be an effort in futility.”
