The Senate on Thursday moved to douse rising tensions at the National Assembly after the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, assured protesting retired police officers that their long-running push to exit the Contributory Pension Scheme was effectively nearing resolution.
His assurance came hours after scores of retired officers staged another protest at the National Assembly complex, accusing the Senate of delaying concurrence with the House of Representatives, which had already passed a bill exempting police personnel from the scheme.
Introduced in 2004, the CPS has drawn sustained opposition from security agencies who insist that its structure leaves operatives financially exposed upon retirement.
While the military, DSS, NIA and other security institutions were eventually exempted, the police remained the only major outfit still under the scheme — a disparity that has fuelled years of agitation.
Receiving the leadership of the retirees in his office, Akpabio said the Senate would take immediate steps to align with the House and ‘deliver justice long overdue’.
‘The policy, from what you have told us, was not well thought out. But take it that you have to disperse from the gate, that problem, as far as the law is concerned, is over’, he told the delegation.
He promised that concurrence would be completed without delay.
‘On Tuesday next week, we will concur with what the House of Representatives has done and produce an Act exiting you from the scheme. I know that President Bola Tinubu, being a listening President, would sign it into law. The scheme is certainly not good for the security personnel’, he said.
Akpabio questioned why police personnel were left under the CPS when their counterparts in the military and elite security agencies had long exited it.
‘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. You all fought insecurity together. What is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. We will ensure that the scheme is the same from the IG to the last Constable’, he assured.
He also criticised policymakers for adopting pension templates without properly weighing their domestic implications.
‘Sometimes our country is fantastic in copying policies and not thinking out the implications if implemented, and if that were done, many of you wouldn’t have died. We always compare apples with oranges’, he added.
Earlier, the leader of the retirees, Chief Superintendent Mannir Zaria, thanked the Senate President for granting audience, saying the delegation was hopeful that the upper chamber would now move swiftly to address their concerns.
In his vote of thanks, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, praised Akpabio for his prompt response to the plight of the retirees.
Thursday’s engagement signals the clearest indication yet that the Senate is ready to harmonise the police exemption bill — a longstanding demand that has sparked repeated protests and deepened frustration among retired officers struggling with meagre pension benefits under the current scheme.
