Retirees of the Nigeria Police Force, who are under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), are rejecting the recent announcement of an “Enhancement of Monthly Pension Payment” made by the Director General of PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar.
The periodic enhancement policy under the CPS, which aims to adjust the periodic income of retirees against inflation, has been met with skepticism by the police retirees, who have accused PenCom of perpetuating “strategic policies of accelerated untimely deaths and neo-colonial, slavish economic strangulation.”
In a petition addressed to the National Assembly and signed by several police retirees, including the Chairman of the Police Retirees under CPS, CRS chapter, Mr. Chris Effiong, the retirees claim that the policy is selectively implemented, with less than ten retirees under CPS receiving the so-called pension enhancement payment. They also argue that the meager amounts, ranging from N400.00 to N4,000.00, are insufficient to address the effect of inflation on their pensions.
The retirees further claim that the low pension problem has persisted for about 20 years and that the pension enhancement payment is merely a new garb for the same old problem. The retirees maintain that the pension enhancement payment is not worth the paper it is written on, and call on the National Assembly to intervene on their behalf.
The retirees’ rejection of the policy comes as a blow to PenCom, which has been struggling to solve the problem of low pensions for retirees under the CPS. It remains to be seen whether the National Assembly will heed the retirees’ call for intervention, or whether PenCom will find a more satisfactory solution to the problem of low pensions for Nigeria’s retired police officers.
