The clamour for Nigeria Police Force (NPF) exiting the current Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has taken a new twist as Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has sounded a note of warning against the initiative.
Although the bill seeking the exit of the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS is currently awaiting the presidential assent after going through the two houses of the National Assembly, the IGP said he is working on a package within the CPS for the officers.……CONTINUE READING
Report available to Daily Independent disclosed that the IGP has cautioned the police officers against any idea to exit the scheme, noting that the police pension will be worst hit because their welfare would be a subject of budgetary allocation managed by the politicians.
He asserted that where government does not have money the police pension would not be paid, drawing an inference to what used to be the lots of retirees prior to the introduction of the Pension Reform Act 2004 as amended.
Assuring the men and women of the force of his commitment to ensuring the best for them, the IGP disclosed that the issue has been mentioned to President Bola Tinubu who has given his support to the idea not to exit the scheme by the Nigeria Police.
“Yes, the bill has been passed by the National Assembly to exit the current CPS and that bill is awaiting presidential assent.
“But has anyone of you seen the content of the bill? Have you seen the details of the bill? You need to go and look at the bill and see where you are exiting to.
“Everybody is shouting let’s pullout, let’s go. Where are you going? You must know where you are going before you start shouting that you want to go.
“When I became the IGP, I set up a committee to look into the pension issues and we discovered that the bill that is awaiting the presidential assent does not favour us. If we exit from the current CPS we are going back to square one where we were before the introduction of this scheme.
“Our pension will be in the hands of politicians, they will be the ones to administer our pension. Our pension will be subject of budget allocation every year. When government does not have money, you will not be paid.
“You remember those days when retirees will go and line up and wait for months and they are not getting anything, that is the place you want us to go back to.
“What we should do is to make sure that even if we are going to exit the pension scheme, let us be an outsider (this could mean maintaining the Nigeria Police Force PFA for all police officers).
“People who don’t have anything, people who don’t care about you, what they would care about would be their pockets? Those are the people you want to come and manage your pension. We may be worse for it. So, we have to be careful not to go from frying pan to fire.
“I am your Inspector General of Police. You must trust me that I care about your welfare and I will fight this pension issue to make sure that the police officers who retire get the best of pension in retirement.
“Let me tell you what I am working on. Let me just disclose to you that what I’m working for the pension scheme where every police officer will retire with his salary. That would be the best. That’s what I want for the police, not to exit, you are all shouting about.
“Where are you going? Where are you exiting to? You don’t know where you are going and you are saying let us go. That’s what you people are doing. Have you checked where you are going before you say, let us go?
“So, let us be very careful with this emotion we are attaching to the exit of the present scheme. We are going to make this present scheme work for the good of police officers. We have the power to do that and with the cooperation of Mr. President, and let me tell you, just a hint that what I am telling you now, I have mentioned it to Mr. President and he is in our support”, IGP Egbetokun said in Kwara State.
Confirming the development, an Inspector of Police, who simply gave his name as George, told Daily Independent that the pronouncement of his IGP was true but he was worried if he would be in service to actualise his dream for the police force as he is retiring next year by age.
“Yes, he said so. He mentioned ensuring that a police officer should retire with his/her salary, it’s doable but he is going next year (this year), except his tenure could be extended by political appointment,” said George.
