Police retirees storm National Assembly, demand exemption from pension scheme

Retired police officers and their spouses have staged a protest at the National Assembly in Abuja, demanding the exit of the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators urged President Bola Tinubu to quickly assent to a pending legislative bill that guarantees their full exemption. The retirees, operating under the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, accused the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the police high command of deliberately stalling the presidential assent.

The legislative bill seeking the exemption was passed by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025, and officially transmitted to the presidency on March 16, 2026.

Leading the demonstration, CSP Raphael Irowainu (retd.) lamented the deteriorating living conditions of former personnel, due to the poor retirement benefits.

He explained that while sister security agencies like the military, Department of State Services, and the National Intelligence Agency have been exempted from the 2004 pension system, police retirees remain trapped in an arrangement that pays a retired Commissioner of Police a monthly stipend of N90,000 to N100,000.

According to the forum, a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police currently receives a monthly pension of about N25,000, while Superintendents take home between N35,000 and N40,000.

The group rejected recent appeals for calm from the PenCom management following a similar protest at the commission’s headquarters on Monday, insisting that a total exemption from the scheme is non-negotiable.

“We are no longer satisfied with assurances that our welfare will improve; our main demand is the removal of the police from the scheme. We will continue this protest until Tinubu assents to the bill or the government takes concrete steps to address our grievances”, Irowainu stated.

The protesting senior citizens alleged that over 20 of their members have died in the past six months due to an inability to afford basic medical care on their current stipends.