Retired Commissioner of Police, Mr. Aderemi Adeoye, has strongly criticized Nigeria’s Contributory Pension Scheme for police officers, describing it as “inefficient and ineffective,” and incapable of supporting the basic needs of officers who dedicated their lives to national service. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on July 22, 2025 from 1:40, Adeoye highlighted widespread hardship and neglect facing thousands of police retirees across the country.
“Basically, I think the contributory pension scheme is such that does not meet with the aspiration and the minimum expected standard of living for one who has served this country for that length of period of 35 years. That is virtually all their life,” Adeoye said. “Most of these police officers, policing is the only thing they know how to do. They have no secondary skills,” he added.
He explained that officers contribute 8% of their salaries, while the federal government adds 10%, making a total of 18% as prescribed by the 2014 Pension Reform Act. Despite this, many officers face long delays accessing their entitlements.
“I think the system is inefficient and ineffective. For example, you retire even as a commissioner of police, you have to wait for about two years before you get your benefits,” he revealed.
He noted the hardship retirees endure during the waiting period: “Your salary is stopped the very day you retire. And for the two years you are waiting to get your benefits, nobody cares how you feed, how you buy your medication, how you pay your children’s school fees, or where you live. So within that period, many retired officers die off. That is the reality.”
Adeoye further lamented that gratuities are paid in fragments: “When the benefits eventually come, they give it in bits and pieces. A retired commissioner of police used to earn about 87,000 naira as monthly pension until recently when the president ordered an increment. And when that increment was paid, the commissioner got 15,000. So up to now, he earns less than 100,000 naira.”
He confirmed that he, too, has not received his gratuity more than a year after retirement: “I programmed my mind that before I say anything, I have to wait for two years before you see gratuity, before you see any pension.”
Commenting on the ongoing protests, Adeoye said: “Seeing the protest on TV, I can tell you that they represent the majority of the retirees who are actually affected. Everybody’s affected. No police is exempted. Every retiree who is a police officer from the rank of commissioner of police downwards are affected.”
He responded to the Inspector General of Police’s assurance that steps are being taken to address the grievances: “The report I got of the proceedings at the meeting portrayed the IG as being sensitive and concerned about welfare of the officers. The problem was not his own creation… Before the contributory pension scheme, there was the defined benefit scheme.”
Highlighting disparities, Adeoye noted: “An army captain, for example, gets about 300,000 naira in monthly pension… while the commissioner of police gets less than 100,000. So you can easily see the injustice in the system.”
He expressed optimism about a legislative effort to establish a separate pension board for police: “There is a bill before the House of Representatives… to establish the Nigerian Police First Pension Board and exit the police from the contributory pension scheme.”
Concluding, Adeoye urged calm among protesting retirees: “I want to reach out to my colleagues, retired officers, that even as they showcase to the world the plight of retired police officers, they must not lose their sense of policing. They must not do anything that will allow miscreants or people who do not mean well for the nation to hijack the protests… We must retain this confidence because when hope is lost, all is lost. We must keep hope alive and better days shall come.”
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