The Nigeria Police Force Pensions Limited has hinted of its preparedness to clear 20 months of unpaid accrued pension rights to retired police officers under the 2004 enacted Contributory Pension Scheme.
Managing director of NPF Pensions Limited, Dr Kolade Morakinyo said the pension backlog would be cleared with a part of the the money to be raised from the recently approved N758 billion Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bond, which he described as a huge initiative that would make life more meaningful for Nigerian retirees.
“We were owing 20 months of accrued rights,” Morakinyo stated, adding that the accrued rights of both police and other retirees of government would now be settled with over N200 billion. “With this, pensioners will smile. This is a huge resource. This is humongous resources by the Federal government,” he stated in an interaction with journalists on Friday in Abuja.
In December 2024, the National Pension Commission released the sum of N44 billion for the payment of accrued rights for retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for the period January to June.
The accrued pension rights represents an employee’s benefits for the past years of service up to June 2004, when the Pension Reform Act (PRA) that birthed the CPS, came into effect.
The NPF Pensions boss promised to uplift the welfare of retired police officers and increase their earnings by ensuring a higher return on their investments in the pension funds under his management.
He said the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun wants the officers and men of Police to retire with smiles on their faces. Morakinyo said there is a new resolve and commitment to ensure that when people retire, they do so with a better package.
“No interest in this organisation other than the welfare of the police. Our own is to make sure that police get the best when they retire.
The 758 billion bond for clearing outstanding pensions is an unprecedented initiative for the welfare of retirees,” Morakinyo said.
Many retired police officers have been demanding an exit from the Contributory Pension Scheme, citing poor welfare packages and inadequate pensions packages, prompting the National Assembly to begin work on a bill to address their concerns.
But Morakinyo says the future is bright, pointing to record initiatives that have begun to yield positive results for the Retirees. For instance, he said the pension administrator has grown police pensions from zero to over N1trillion in 10 years, with high return on investment.
He bragged that NPF Pensions Limited is the top Pension Funds Administrator in Nigeria with 38 per cent return on investment above Nigeria’s 24 per cent headline inflation rate.
“We outperform inflation so that our Rsa holders can be happy,” He said, adding that the NPF pension has overshot its target for the last five years, maintaining it’s position as one of the best credit to RSAs. “There is no year we don’t outperform our targets.
To build capacity, we have trained about 70 per cent of our staff.”
He appreciated President Tinubu and the IGP for committing to ensuring that police pensioners go home happy. “We will make this system better than how we met it by ensuring that return on investment is increased and that once FG releases funds, it’s immediately disbursed to the pensioners.
“We will continue to push. We are going to ensure that our retirees get a better life to take care of themselves in terms of housing and feeding,” he stated.
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