By Okechukwu Nwanguma
The shameful handling of police pensions in Nigeria has once again reared its ugly head — this time, in the agonizing cries of a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Eneche James.
His words are a distress call, a lamentation of betrayal by a country he loyally served for 35 years under sun and rain, through insecurity and danger, with no guarantees beyond the hope that his lawful entitlements would be waiting for him at the end of service.
But that hope has turned into despair. It has now been over a year since his retirement on June 1, 2024, and he is yet to receive a single kobo of his pension or the contributory savings he diligently remitted over the years.
This is not an isolated case. Recently, some retirees accused the Nigeria Police Force and pension managers of responding with tokenism to public outcry — adding a marginal sum to the already fractional payments made to some retirees. But many see this as a perfunctory, knee-jerk gesture designed to deceive the public and suppress growing outrage, rather than a genuine effort to address the deep-rooted injustice in the pension system.
The tragic irony here is that Retired DSP Eneche is not begging the Nigerian state for a handout or reward. He is not demanding gratuity from a system that now says it no longer offers any. He is simply crying for the return of his own hard-earned savings — money deducted from his salary monthly for decades, now locked away in the vaults of bureaucratic indifference.
He asks the right questions: Why should a man be forced to surrender his income to a system that turns around to deny him access when he needs it most? Why should he have to beg for his own money, while struggling with illness and hardship, as though retirement were a punishment?
Eneche’s haunting statement says it all: “If I say the truth I will die, if I don’t say the truth I will still die. Why don’t I say the truth before I die?” These are not the words of a man simply complaining. They are the words of someone pushed to the edge by institutional cruelty and neglect. A man who served with discipline, only to be abandoned at the finish line.
We must ask: how many more retired officers are silently suffering the same fate? How many are dying in penury while their savings are trapped in a rigged pension system? Is this the reward for decades of public service in one of the most dangerous jobs in the country?
The issue of police pension in Nigeria is long overdue for urgent reform. The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), as it currently applies to the police, has failed to provide financial security. Instead, it has become a machinery for exploitation and disenfranchisement. For a security institution that is often overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated, this is the ultimate betrayal.
We therefore call on the National Assembly to investigate this matter urgently and decisively. We call on the Presidency and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to initiate a total review of how retired police officers are treated under the pension system. The Nigeria Police Force, which has continued to look away, must begin to speak out and stand up for its own.
Most importantly, the cries of DSP Eneche James — and others like him — must not be ignored. His case must be treated as a test of national conscience.
Justice delayed is justice denied. But in this case, it is not just justice being denied — it is dignity, humanity, and the very essence of what it means to serve one’s country.
The Nigerian government must act. Not just to pay DSP Eneche what he is owed, but to fix the system that keeps humiliating and robbing our heroes after service.
This is no longer a pension issue. It is a moral emergency.
Okechukwu Nwanguma is a human rights advocate and Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC).
