Retired police officers yesterday defied rain to stage a nationwide protest, including the entrance gate of the National Assembly and Force Headquarters in Abuja.
The protesters who grounded activities at the Louis Edet house are demanding their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme under which the retirees receive ridiculous amounts as pensions after 35 years of service.
The demonstrators, comprising elderly ex-police personnel, held placards and chanted solidarity songs as they stood in the rain, insisting that their welfare and dignity had been neglected for too long.
Speaking during the protest, retired Chief Superintendent of Police CSP Manir Lawal called on the government to expel police retirees from the pension scheme, which he described as exploitative and unjust.
He said, “We are here to ask the government to remove us from the CPS. The pension scheme is exploitative and unjust.
“I am 67 years old. Many of us here are in our 60s and 70s. We have served this country faithfully and deserve to retire in dignity. This scheme has impoverished us. It is our right to demand better.”
Despite the rain, the retirees stood firm, vowing not to leave until the leadership of the National Assembly addressed their concerns.
Security operatives were seen monitoring the protest to prevent any breakdown of law and order.
The protesters later moved to the Force Headquarters, where they blocked the entrance gate.
Earlier, Omoyele Sowore, Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 general elections, on Monday joined a peaceful protest led by retired police officers and civil rights activists in Abuja, demanding the immediate withdrawal of retired personnel from the federal contributory pension scheme.
The protest, organised by the Nigerian Union of Retired Police Officers (NURPO), kicked off at the National Assembly complex and was expected to proceed toward the Force Headquarters.
Chanting solidarity songs and bearing placards with messages such as “End Police Pension Suffering” and “We Deserve Better After Service”, the retirees decried what they described as “discriminatory and inhumane” pension policies.
They allege that the current contributory pension scheme has inflicted severe economic hardship, with many former officers reportedly dying without receiving their full entitlements.
“We served this country and put our lives on the line. Now, in retirement, we’re being abandoned. The scheme is killing us,” one emotional retiree said during the demonstration.
Sowore, an outspoken activist and former presidential candidate, marched alongside the retirees and condemned what he called the government’s “systemic neglect” of those who dedicated their lives to national service.
“This protest is not just justified—it is necessary,” Sowore said. “You cannot ask men and women to protect lives and property and then treat them like disposable tools when their service ends. It is unjust and unsustainable.”
Despite the caution, protesters maintained that their concerns had long been ignored and they were left with no choice but to take to the streets.
Meanwhile, despite a heavy downpour in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, police retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) staged a peaceful protest on Monday. They urged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to exempt the police from the scheme.
The aggrieved retirees, led by retired DSP Ofem Mbang, urged President Tinubu and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to exclude them from the scheme.
The inspector-general of police, IGP Kayode Egbetukun, has said the Nigeria Police Force is addressing the challenges raised by some retired police officers.
The IGP, while addressing journalists after the meeting, said the meeting was successful as the protesting retired officers have agreed to go home and wait for changes that will come as the police are already addressing some of the challenges they raised.
Earlier, the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) had advised against the protest, urging the retirees to return to the negotiation table.
In a statement issued by PCRC National Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Olaniyan, the group warned that the protest could be interpreted as an attempt to undermine the authority of the Inspector General of Police and discredit the Tinubu administration.
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