Members of the National Association of Retired Police Officers in Edo State staged a peaceful protest in Benin City on Monday, calling on the National Assembly to amend the Pension Reform Act 2004 and remove them from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The protesters, undeterred by the morning rain, carried placards with inscriptions decrying the scheme, which they described as “a killer of pensioners.”
Speaking during the demonstration, the Association’s President, Anthony Nnachor, condemned the CPS, labelling it “an evil” imposed on officers who dedicated over three decades to national service.
According to him, many retirees under the scheme are struggling to survive, as the monthly stipends they receive are grossly inadequate to meet basic needs.
Nnachor appealed directly to President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure police retirees are exempted from the CPS, urging a return to a more sustainable pension arrangement.
According to him, “We are on a peaceful mission. All of us are living in abject poverty and cannot perform our primary responsibility as parents. We were enrolled into the Contributory Pension Scheme.
“We have been asking the government to exit us from this evil. It is a killer disease. We have done public hearing severally. We are asking our President to hear our cry and prevail on relevant government agencies to take us out of CPS.
“We cannot explain this pain. We have suffered. Our members are dying every day. We want them to established the Police Pension Board. Our pension cannot feed us for one week. We want the National Assembly to do the needful. Let them show commitment. We are appealing to President Tinubu to hear our cry so that they can remove us from the CPS.”
Spokesman of the association, Johnson Oyameda, said Inspector General of Police and Assistant Inspector General of Police were not part of CPS.
(The Nation)
