BREAKING: Senate passes bill exempting Nigerian Police from pension scheme

The National Assembly has reportedly passed the bill for the establishment of a Police Pension Board according to The Cable.

The online newspaper reported on Wednesday that despite past disapproval of the federal government, the lawmakers, in the passed bill, excluded the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the contributory pension scheme (CPS) and returned the force to the old defined benefit scheme (DBS).

The Cable said the Upper Chamber disclosed this on its Twitter handle on Tuesday, noting that the new bill is in sharp contrast with the CPS formula, where both the employee and the employer make contributions towards the employee’s pension.

The medium noted that under the bill passed by the Senate, the federal government will now be fully responsible for police pensions, which is expected to cost trillions of naira over time.

It will be recalled that at the public hearing organised by the senate committee on police affairs on January 20, 2023, the National Pension Commission (PenCom), which regulates the industry, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had opposed the bill.

Boss Mustapha, who was then secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), wrote to the inspector general of police reminding him that there was an SGF circular Ref. 59149/S.1/C.1/11/266 and dated July 20, 2021 which said the police must be under the CPS and that the directive had not changed.

Mustapha also referred to the White Paper on the report of the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies which expressly forbids any government body, apart from the military and the intelligence services, from exiting the CPS.

The national assembly also passed a bill recently to exempt its staff from the CPS.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari assented to on the even of his departure.