By Ayooluwa Ayobami
The Kaduna State chapter of the National Union of Police Retirees has written President Bola Tinubu to issue an executive order that would allow retirees to exit the contributory pension scheme.
This request was listed in an open letter addressed to the President and signed by Ret. CSP Mannir M. Lawal Zaria, chairman of the police retirees in Kaduna, which was shared with the media on Thursday.
The letter reads: “Sir, with much respect and honor, I want to intimate you with the fact that Police Retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) are dying in silence every day as a result of being under this scheme.
“This emanated as a result of the bad plan of the system, as Police Retirees are denied their pension and gratuity, which is replaced with what they call Lump Sum.
“This Lump Sum is a disaster because it is what Police Retirees have been contributing while in service, that on retirement, only 25% of it would be given to a retiree, followed by a meager monthly take home of ₦25,000 to ₦75,000, depending on the rank.
“Since about 10 years ago, Police Retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme have been struggling to be exited from the scheme, and the lawmakers also have been trying to remove the Nigeria Police from the scheme, but to no avail.
“The retirees in the letter listed 9 reasons why they wanted to exit from CPS and among the reasons were:
“Nobody can expect any good service skill from the serving Policemen when they are seeing those who retired are under abject poverty, disgrace, humiliation, and begging.
“It is very, very dangerous for a country like Nigeria, to leave Police under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
“Police Retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme used to wait for one and a half years before collecting the so-called Lump Sum.
“Rampant deaths among the Police Retirees who are under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
“I am hereby appealing to Mr. President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a matter of urgency to give out an Executive Order Bill for the removal of Police from the Contributory Pension Scheme.”
