Retired police officers under the Contributory Pension Scheme have kicked back against the arrangement.
The ex-officers recently marched from the National Assembly and shut the main gate of the Force Headquarters in Abuja for hours, demanding that the police be removed from the scheme, which has trapped them in poverty.
The former officers refused repeated pleas to disperse until they secured a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Addressing the protesters, Egbetokun said that even though he has nothing against the police exiting the CPS, the decision to make that happen is not in the hands of one Inspector-General.
According to him, he has been conversing with top government officials, including the National Security Adviser, on how to improve the lives of police retirees, so the former officers can rest assured that he has their best interests at heart.
The Abuja showdown capped a wave of coordinated demonstrations as retirees in Edo and Kwara states also protested, branding the CPS “a killer scheme.”
In Oyo, however, Take-It-Back activists staged a solidarity demonstration over poor police welfare, even as local retirees stayed away.
Organisers across the states insisted that the fight to exit the CPS dates back to 2014, but reforms are still yet to be fulfilled despite many protests.
The leader of the protesting retirees, CSP Manir Lawal (retd.), concluded by saying that the agitation to exit the CPS will not stop until the complaints of the retirees are addressed.
“Even when the National Assembly passed the bill, we heard that the then IGP wasn’t satisfied with the contents and wanted amendments. That stalled the process.
I am speaking from the bottom of my heart, sir. Virtually, we have nothing at home. A retired CSP cannot even send his children to school. Our condition has deteriorated beyond repair,” he added.
