By Kelvin Obambon
Retirees of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have told the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, that they wish to leave the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) operated by the National Pension Commission to the want use by Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs), Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) and Inspectors General (IGs).
The Retirees made this know while responding to a statement reportedly credited to Egbetokun in which he alluded that the economy of the country was affecting the retirement benefits of Police Officers under the CPS.
In a statement signed by the Secretary General, Nigeria Police Retirees Under Contributory Pension Scheme, Rtd DSP (Dr) Peter Silas and the Legal Adviser, Rtd (DSP) Elder Ofem Mbang, which was made available to the Paradise News on Saturday, the ex police officers said it was difficult to establish the connection between the retirement benefits of retired police officers under the CPS and the economy, because according to them, the Nigeria Police Force is not a profit making organization.
Read Also: Tinubu working to ensure peace in troubled parts of Nigeria: Shettima
The statement reads;
“Fellow Most Distinguished Nigerians, we humbly crave your indulgence to present as follows and this is without prejudice. If indeed the publication we read was borne out of IGP Egbetokun’s initiative, then something has gone wrong somewhere.
“Even if the contrary becomes the case later, we still remain at a loss to understand the inconsistency in tying the retirement benefits of Retired Police Officers under the CPS to the economy of Nigeria without recourse to the macroeconomics indices of fiscal and monetary policies. These indices make up the driving force of every country’s economy and not the retirement benefits of Police Officers under the CPS or otherwise. The NPF is not a profit-making organization involved in any business venture.
“In the language of macroeconomics, the NPF as a security organization is not oriented towards commercial production for profit making, rather we earn our incomes from the broad based economy of Nigeria. So, ours is a consummate one. Perhaps, the IGP’s inexplicable assumption is that the same economy that is sustaining the Army, DIA, NIA, DSS, NASS staff, Police Generals, a flurry of Permsecs, etc, etc will collapse if the NPF is exited.
“There’s no nexus between the economy of a country and retirement benefits of Police Officers under the CPS. May we rhetorically ask if the economy will be better served to have all retired Police Officers under the CPS dead having meritoriously served their fatherland for 35 unblemished years? What we perceive to be spectacular in the IGP’s sudden twist in his focus is that he may have irresistibly, for what the eyes couldn’t see caved into the exploitative economic neocolonial practice of the DG PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar.
“As financially distressed senior citizens under the CPS of the 21st century, it’s given that up to the least rank among us is older than the current IGP. We have come a long way and we don’t see the IGP as having the monopoly of wisdom and intellectual property than any one of us involved in this exit struggle to unilaterally decide on what’s not in our favour. It amounts to an aberration of any logical thinking and reasoning that a so-called pension of Fourteen Thousand (N14,000) Naira and Seventy-Nine Thousand (N79,000) Naira are respectively adequate for a retired Inspector of Police and a Commissioner of Police in that lower and upper levels of CPS retirees. The IGP’s position is at variance with the current economic realities.
“All the ideas with which the DG PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar and her cohorts were confronted at all levels to a stand-still were generated by our collectivity. Let the IGP make the sudden twist in his focus to suggest including the Police Generals in the CPS arrangement instead, otherwise his position is not acceptable.
“So, the questionable claim by the IGP regarding whether we know where we are exiting to is baseless. We knew our destination ab initio. That destination is where the retired Police Generals are at the moment and where the IGP will anchor himself effective 03/03/2024 upon retirement. Therefore, there’s absurdity in that publication, whether the IGP is the initiator or not as his name is mentioned. The IGP should come to the open and refute it for a more positive stand or accept that publication by Opera News and convince us on what we see as uncomfortable beyond reasonable doubt. Keeping silent will mean acceptance as what he relayed to the social media. Not minding such inconsiderate publication, there’s no going back and we are more determined now to see the end of what we started when he wasn’t the IGP.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let’s refresh our memories with 2 of our instruments with which the DG PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar and her cohorts were tackled to a stand-still –
“THE REACTION OF NIGERIA POLICE FORCE (NPF) RETIREES UNDER THE CONTRIBUTORY PENSION SCHEME (CPS) TO THE ASSERTION THAT: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (FG) WILL INCUR ADDITIONAL N2TRN LIABILITIES AS SENATE PASSES POLICE PENSION BOARD BILL AND COPIOUS REFERENCES ALLUDED TO AN UNIMPLEMENTED (OR REJECTED) WHITE PAPER DATED 10/06/2023; and
“RE: PUBLIC HEARING:22/02/2022: THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE (NPF) HAS REASONS AND THE RIGHT TO EXIT THE CONTRIBUTORY PENSION SCHEME (CPS): THE BARE FACTS WITH STATISTICAL EVIDENCE OF PENCOM’S FINANCIAL CRIMES DATED 28/03/2022.”
