By Okechukwu Nwanguma
If even half of what this retired police officer revealed in a recent television interview is true, then Nigeria owes its police retirees a national apology. What he described isn’t just neglect — it is a scandalous betrayal of men and women who dedicated their lives to securing the country under extremely difficult conditions. The sheer inhumanity of the situation should outrage every well-meaning Nigerian.
Imagine serving Nigeria faithfully for 30 to 35 years as a police officer, risking your life daily, working with inadequate tools, often unpaid or underpaid, and then being “rewarded” with a retirement benefit of ₦1.5 million, ₦900,000, or even less. For context, that’s barely enough to buy a decent second-hand car, let alone settle medical bills, care for family, or start a small business in retirement. The most senior among them, he said, got ₦3.5 million after decades in uniform.
This is not just a failure of policy — it is wickedness, pure and simple.
The officer’s testimony reveals how the much-criticised Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has become a trap for lower-ranking police personnel. He explains how, unlike the military, DSS, and NIA — all of which successfully exited the scheme, rank-and-file police officers were left behind in a system that strips them of dignity in retirement. Even more disturbing is the claim that while the federal government made moves to exit the police from the CPS, two successive Inspectors-General of Police allegedly resisted it — yet these same IGPs quietly pulled themselves and other top brass (AIG, DIG, IGP) out of the scheme.
How can anyone justify such double standards?
It’s one thing to be complicit in a bad system. It’s another level of betrayal to escape from it personally while ensuring those beneath you remain trapped. According to the interviewee, the IGP — who should be the defender and voice of his men — has instead done little or nothing to improve their post-service welfare. Promises of palliatives, enhanced retirement plans, or welfare support remain empty rhetoric.
The Nigerian police system has long been plagued by problems: poor training, obsolete equipment, barracks that are unfit for human habitation, chronic underfunding, and low morale. But this situation with police pensions adds a fresh layer of cruelty. It is morally indefensible that those who endured decades of suffering in the service of the country should be discarded like expired tools.
No wonder morale within the force is abysmally low. What motivation is there to serve honourably when your reward is indignity?
This injustice goes beyond the police; it speaks to how Nigeria treats its workers, especially those not in elite or connected circles. The CPS, while well-intentioned in principle, has failed in practice for many sectors. But for the police — an institution so vital to internal security and democratic stability — this failure is catastrophic.
There is an urgent need for action. Civil society must raise its voice. The National Assembly must open an inquiry. The federal government must revisit the decision to keep the police under the CPS. Most importantly, there must be a complete overhaul of the way we handle police retirement benefits, with immediate relief for those already affected.
A country that cannot take care of its defenders in retirement has no moral right to demand sacrifice from those still in uniform. Enough is enough.
Okechukwu Nwanguma is a human rights activist in Nigeria and also the Executive Director, RULAAC
