Retired police officers under the Contributory Pension Scheme on Monday 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 they say has trapped them in poverty.
The elderly ex-officers refused repeated pleas to disperse until they secured a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Facing the protesters, Egbetokun expressed sympathy and insisted he was not opposed to the police exiting the CPS if that would solve the problem, but stressed the decision lay beyond any one Inspector-General.
He said he had been engaging top government officials — including the National Security Adviser — on ways to improve police retirees’ welfare, and cautioned the crowd against being used by outside interests.
The Abuja showdown capped a wave of coordinated agitations 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 recalled that the push to quit the CPS dates back to 2014, yet promised reforms remained unfulfilled.
In Abuja on Monday, the retired cops blocked the main gate of the Force Headquarters.
The demonstrators gathered in large numbers and obstructed entry and exit into the premises, insisting they would not leave until their grievances were addressed.
Amid the tension, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Adewale Ajao, and the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, came out to appeal to them to vacate the entrance.
The protesters, however, rejected all pleas, and after several hours of protest, they agreed to hold a meeting with Egbetokun.
The leader of the protesting retirees, CSP Manir Lawal (retd.), said the agitation to exit the CPS started as far back as 2014.
Lawal accused several past Inspectors-General of misrepresenting the interests of police retirees to lawmakers.
He also lamented that promises made under the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration to exit the police from the CPS were never fulfilled.
“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,” Lawal said.
He narrated how the retirees had endured years of disappointment and financial hardship, some resorting to sleeping on the floors of the National Assembly to press their demands.
“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 said.
