Police retirees on the contributory pension plan, including their counterparts in the military and the Department of Security Services, are seeking an exemption from the scheme (DSS).
They also want to be included in debarment payments, which are available to their counterparts in other security forces.
The retirees marched to the National Assembly with placards bearing inscriptions narrating their ordeals, led by their chief and legal advisor, Ofem Nbang. They arrived with written petitions addressed to Ahmad Lawan, President of the Senate, and Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Mbang, speaking on behalf of the retirees, said the scheme was implemented during their 35 years of service with the Nigeria Police Force.
“We were on the old pension when they launched the contributory pension plan in 2004, but the legislation was retrogressive,” he said. He said that laws are not meant to be enacted in stages.
“This is against the provision of Section 173(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) because it alters an existing pension scheme (benefit scheme) to the disadvantage of prospective retirees, who had been in service long before the enactment of the Pension Reform Act 2004.”
Source: Guardian
