By Owen Eresoyen, Benin
Leaders and members of the National Association of Retired Police Officers, under the Contributory Pension Scheme have called on the federal government to exit them from the scheme as it is characterised with fraud and corruption.
The pensioners in a protest to the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Benin City said they are tired of being in the Contributory Pension Scheme.
Addressing journalists, the Edo State chairman of the Contributory Pension Scheme, SP Anthony Nnachor (retd), said they want the federal government to remove them from the scheme.
He lamented that, most of their members have lost their lives because of the insufficient funds they are receiving from the scheme.
According to Nnachor, “we are here to let the world know the predicament we are passing through. We are on a peaceful mission. Everybody here seated with me would have served in the force for 35 years meritoriously”.
“It has become imperative for us to tell the world the problem we are going through. We are now living in abject poverty and we can no longer meet up with our primary responsibility as parents.
“The majority of us are dying every day. What is the main reason? The Police in 20O4 established a Pension Act. The serving members of the scheme are supposed to contribute 7%, while the federal government will contribute 8% as and then.
Nnachor added that, means that you are working for your retirement. It is the money that you have worked on they will use to pay you. At the end of your service, they will calculate what we call a long sum and give you 25%. What we want now is for the federal government to exit us from this evil contributory pension scheme.
He stated that, The scheme is a killer disease, we have been in this struggle since 2019. The ninth Assembly passed our bill to assure us of Justice, but when the 10th Assembly came they could not harmonize it, that is where we are today. We have done public hearings several times, the most annoying part of it is that this public hearing had been adjourned indefinitely. We want the National Assembly to pass the bill that has been with them.
They called on President Bola Tinubu to hear their cry and prevail on relevant agencies who are against their exit to remove us from the scheme,” he lamented.
Also speaking, The publicity secretary of the association, SP Johnson Oyamenda rtd, advocated for the abolition of Nigeria Police Fund Pension due to its fraudulent nature.
He appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to help them facilitate the process of exiting from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
