Retired police officers have issued a strong appeal to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, requesting that he recuse himself from all matters related to their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme stressing that his presence would compromise the integrity and fairness of the process.
At a protest held at the National Assembly on Wednesday, retired police officers made a clear and unequivocal statement, urging legislators to exercise complete control over the matter without any interference from the top brass of the police force.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of the Association of Retired Police Officers under the CPS, CSP Manir Lawal (retd.), expressed concerns that recent developments had heightened their fears.
Lawal stated, “That meeting at Jabi some weeks ago raised our tension. Before then, we were 100% sure that the National Assembly would exit police retirees from the CPS. But after that interaction, we became very worried.”
He further decried the alleged financial injustice that police retirees have endured under the CPS, lamenting that retirees receive only a paltry 25% of their accrued pension savings while the remaining 75% is held back by PENCOM for investment purposes.
“The cheating is too much. PENCOM has killed many of us with this CPS. This lupsum is a disaster in the sense that no matter the amount of money you contributed while in service, the moment you retire, that money will be divided into 100%. Then out of that 100%, it’s only 25% that will be given to a retiree.
“While PENCOM holds the 75%, then they are using it to yield interests in millions of naira. But we that were the original owners of the money, Kobo is not added to us in our monthly income. We don’t want anything from PENCOM. We want to go.”
The retired police officers demanded that the Inspector General of Police withdraw from the ongoing negotiations regarding their departure from the Contributory Pension Scheme, leaving the final decision in the hands of the National Assembly.
