Retired officers of the Nigeria Police Force on Monday staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, demanding their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The demonstrators, alongside their families and under the umbrella of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, blocked one of the Villa’s gates to press home their grievances. They described the pension scheme as exploitative and called for urgent government action.
According to the protesters, their agitation centres on a bill passed by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025, which seeks to exempt police personnel from the scheme. They said the proposed legislation was forwarded to the Presidency on March 16, 2026, and urged Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give immediate assent.
Speaking during the protest, the forum’s National Coordinator, Raphael Irowainu, said the group’s primary objective was to secure the President’s approval of the bill.
“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill, the bill exempting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme… into law, nothing more than that,” Irowainu stated.
He further criticised the continued inclusion of police personnel in the scheme, describing it as unjust when compared to other security agencies that have already been exempted.
“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency has been exited,” he said. “The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme.”
The retirees insisted that the current system has had severe consequences on their welfare, labelling it “fraudulent, illegal, inhumane, and obnoxious.” They argued that signing the Police Exit Bill into law would address long-standing concerns about inadequate pensions and poor living conditions among retired officers.
As of the time of filing this report, there was no official response from the Presidency regarding the protesters’ demands.
