A retired Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), John Madaki, is demanding the immediate removal of police retirees from the Contributory Pension Scheme, labeling it a “death sentence” for dedicated officers.
Madaki asserts the scheme has not only impoverished former personnel but has also led to hundreds of deaths due to neglect, inadequate medical care, and emotional distress.
Madaki, who retired on July 1, 2009, after 35 years of service, painted a grim picture of life after retirement under the current system.
“That scheme is killing us,” he stated in a recent interview.
“As of December 2024, about 526 retired officers had died, many from depression, lack of care, and the hardship caused by poor pensions. More have died this year alone, but I don’t even have the full figures.”
He lamented his own struggles, despite dedicating his entire adult life to the Nigerian Police Force. “I joined the police at 17 or 18 in 1974 and gave the best part of my life to serving this nation,” Madaki said.
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“Yet today, I can’t afford decent food or pay my children’s school fees,” highlighting his meager ₦61,000 monthly pension.
Madaki, who earned a law degree while in service, stated that many of his retired colleagues have been “reduced to beggars,” urging authorities to address the dire situation facing police veterans.
“It’s a daily struggle. Some of us go out to beg. Retired officers troop into my office just to ask for ₦1,500 to buy medicine. Some are earning as low as ₦18,000 monthly.”
He described the pension disparity between military and police retirees as unjust.
“My counterparts in the military receive between ₦250,000 and ₦300,000 monthly, while some retired Commissioners of Police earn just ₦69,000. It’s shameful.”
Madaki, who is one of the leaders of Retired Police officers Association in Kaduna, appealed to the government to urgently create a separate Police Pension Board, similar to what exists for the military.
“Let our pension be managed by a dedicated Police Pension Board. PENCOM is eating our money while junior officers there collect over ₦1 million monthly from the same funds that should be ours.”
“We served and protected this country under rain and sun, and now we’re left to suffer. The government used us in our prime and abandoned us in our old age.
“Scrap the Contributory Pension Scheme for the police. It has become a death sentence for those who gave everything to Nigeria,” he said.
, John Madaki, is demanding the immediate removal of police retirees from the Contributory Pension Scheme, labeling it a "death sentence" for dedicated officers.){kind=link}