Retired Police officers protest at Presidential Villa over Pension Scheme

Retired personnel of the Nigeria Police Force on Monday staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, blocking one of the entrances to express anger over their continued participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Operating under the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF), the demonstrators condemned the scheme as “fraudulent, illegal, inhumane, and obnoxious,” while urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign the Police Exit Bill into law.

The retirees said the proposed legislation, approved by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025, and forwarded to the Presidency on March 16, 2026, would remove police officers from the CPS if assented to.

Leading the protest, PROF National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu (retd.), said their gathering was solely to push for presidential approval of the bill.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that,” he said.

Irowainu expressed frustration that while other security agencies have exited the scheme, police personnel are still included.

“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.

The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” he added.

The retirees insisted the CPS has worsened their living conditions, describing it as a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protest follows earlier demonstrations by retired officers, including one at the National Assembly in July 2025 and another at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, where they also complained about poor pension outcomes under the scheme.