There is a clear intention by the Senate to amend a bill to establish the Nigeria Police Pension Board, a move that has put the Federal Government and the police at variance.
While the government insists that there was no essence for duplicating or proliferating the functions already captured in the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, the Police think differently, stressing that, having their own scheme would better serve the interest of its retiring personnel.
Serving and retired officers of the Nigeria Police Force are vehement in their resolve to withdraw from the CPS, which was enacted in 2004. They complain that the scheme’s meagre pension payments are too little to cover the average retiree and that pension savings have been mismanaged. The police say they want a board administered by force personnel in line with the military, SSS, and NIA.
Before the Senate is “the Bill Seeking to Exit the Nigerian Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS”. However , the Federal Government is giving it a cold shoulder saying the move amounts to leading the country back to the dark days of unpaid pensions.
PenCom admits that police personnel’s concerns “are valid but do not warrant an exemption from the CPS” since there are ample mechanisms to address the issue of enhancing retirement benefits.
While PenCom has consistently proposed practical solutions, including increasing pension contribution rates, offering additional retirement benefits, and implementing periodic pension reviews under the existing CPS framework, these features only appear as mere paperwork. The measures which are designed to enhance the financial well-being of retired personnel without compromising fiscal discipline or administrative efficiency only exist as unheeded propositions.
The Senate, said, the amendment aims to ensure that the retired police officers receive the pensions they deserve. “Our police officers who put their lives on the line to protect Nigerians need to be taken good care of. We value your input and opinion, which will help shape the legislation on the bill. It will better help to ascertain the needs of Police officers in formulating the bill”.
The move by the police to create its own pension scheme is not a new one. It has been nearly as old as the CPS which was enacted in 2004 but became effective in 2006.
Indeed, if the legislation to exit the CPS passes through the storm and sails through, the police would merely be joining the nation’s military which had from the onset exited the CPS. While the old pension scheme was in force, the military had maintained its independence, running its Pension Board. Even with the CPS coming on stream, it still remained uncommitted to its purpose.
While the CPS has undeniable merits, its operation in our clime leaves much to be desired.
There is the need to make it attractive even beyond government agencies. If the former system was defective-a situation that necessitated the pension reforms in the first place, then it ought to live to its billing as a
A situation where retirees would not get their benefits nearly two years after exiting service makes mockery of the CPS which was expected to run impressively, far above what obtained in the past.
There, we urge the government to re-engineer the workings of the Pension Commission which oversees the CPS such that it evolves into an enviable pension process akin to what obtains in other climes. It is only then would more sectors find it attractive to participate.
It is unacceptable to declare that the nation’s pension assets runs into trillions of naira and we are still having backlog of unpaid benefits.
