Senate President Godswill Akpabio has assured protesting retired police officers that the national assembly will formally remove them from the contributory pension scheme (CPS) next week.
The retirees, who have been protesting for weeks at the
entrance of the National Assembly Complex over their inclusion in the scheme,
were received by Akpabio in his office on Thursday.
Akpabio said the senate would immediately align with the
house of representatives, which had passed a bill to exempt the Nigeria Police
Force (NPF) from the CPS.
A statement issued by Jackson Udom, special assistant on
media to the senate president, quoted Akpabio as saying the policy was “not
well thought out” and had imposed unnecessary hardship on police personnel who
risk their lives to secure the country.
“Take it that you have to disperse from the gate. That
problem, as far as the law is concerned, is over,” he said.
“On Tuesday next week, we will concur with what the house of
representatives has done and produce an Act exiting you from the Scheme.”
The senate president said he is confident that President
Bola Tinubu, “being a listening president”, would sign the legislation into
law.
He stated that the scheme is “certainly not good for
security personnel”.
Akpabio questioned why the police had remained under the CPS
while other security agencies, including the military, DSS and NIA, had been
exempted.
“If the Military, DSS, NIA and others had exited, I see no
reason why the Police should remain while those in the echelon of the service
are out of it,” he added.
“You all fought insecurity together. What is good for the
goose is also good for the gander. We will ensure that the Scheme is the same
from the IG to the last constable.”
He said Nigeria often “copies policies without thinking
through their implications”, insisting that the CPS had been detrimental to
many police retirees.
Mannir Lawal Zaria, leader of the retirees, thanked the
senate president for granting them audience and expressed hope that their
long-standing pension demands would soon be resolved.
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