…As IGP meets with protesters
By Patrick Wemambu
Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore on Monday led retired policemen on a protest to the Force Headquarters in Abuja over poor welfare and pension conditions affecting them and their serving counterparts.
The protest, organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Union of Retired Police Officers, demanded urgent pension reforms and called for the removal of police personnel from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The Nigerian Pilot gathered that the aggrieved protesters, who were denied entry into the Force Headquarters, were escorted by police officers from National Assembly complex throughout the demonstration.
Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Decent Salaries Now,” “End Police Slavery,” “Pensions for Police Officers,” “Dignity for Those in Uniform,” and “CPS is a death sentence,” the demonstrators insisted that the current pension system is unjust and dehumanising.
The retired officers had earlier vowed to picket the National Assembly in a renewed push for legislative intervention in what they described as a prolonged neglect of their welfare.
However, at the time of filing this report, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, was reportedly meeting with the protesting retired police officers in Abuja.
The meeting was said to be taking place at the peacekeeping hall, Force Headquarters in Abuja.
Addressing the protesters, the IGP said welfare of retired police officers was being addressed but the exit of the force from the contributory pension scheme was not something that could be activated immediately
Egbetokun, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading wrong narratives as the Force cannot abandon their own.
