Life after service: At the mercy of neighbours, relatives

ASP Adamu Usman Baba told Weekend Trust that he retired after 35 years in service. He joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1973 and retired in 2008. Baba, who lives in Bauchi with two wives and 12 children, as well as orphans left behind by his relatives, disclosed that life had been unbearable as a […]

ASP Adamu Usman Baba told Weekend Trust that he retired after 35 years in service. He joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1973 and retired in 2008. Baba, who lives in Bauchi with two wives and 12 children, as well as orphans left behind by his relatives, disclosed that life had been unbearable as a result of the current economic hardship in the country, even as he is battling health challenges with a monthly pension of N23,000. 

“I don’t know how to describe my condition with this unfortunate pension scheme they compelled us into. We are badly maltreated in this pension scheme. They deceived us at the initial stage with many incentives and benefits during retirement. They gave us many dubious forms to fill and submit, all in the name of welfare. We did not know that it was deception after retirement.

“After filling all the forms, they informed us that when we retired from service, it was the National Pension Commission (Pencom) that would work out and pay us our gratuity and pension. Unfortunately, after they received the whole money (gratuity), they divided it into two and gave us one portion of it and withheld the remaining half. We don’t know the reason they withheld our money,” Baba lamented.

He explained that the major discontent over their pension was differences between retired police personnel under Pencom and other retirees under the police pension scheme, saying that those under the police scheme were far better than those under Pencom. 

“What they are paying us will not carter for our needs in a week. The most devastating thing is that what they are paying us as monthly pension is really poor because it will not reach one week for feeding alone, even for a single person’s needs, not to talk of a family man.

“I depend on the N23,000 monthly peanut they are paying me after 35 years of service to my country.  I am just managing my life amidst untold hardship, laced with poverty, hunger and frustration. We are living in hardship like people without life. I don’t know how to describe my life at the moment. Sometimes I only get one square meal a day for me and these children. We don’t have any alternative,” Baba narrated.

He said his last salary before retirement was N85,000, adding that health challenges were responsible for not engaging in any small job to support his family. He added that when he received the pension he gave part of the money to his wives to augment whatever comes from relatives and friends, especially on feeding. 

On how he manages the N23,000 pension despite his health challenges, Baba said, “If I cannot get the needed medication with the little I have, I wait until I have the money. Whenever I don’t have money to buy drugs, I remain at home despite being in pains. I did that recently.” 

Baba also said five of his children attended public schools, yet he could not afford their school fees. “Two of the children are in secondary school while three are still in primary school. Whenever a pressing school need arises, a relative handles it. Other people, including friends, support me with food items and little money at the end of the month.

“If not for the intervention of relatives and good friends that are supporting me, my story would have been worse than what we are going through now. If I relied solely on my pension to carter for my family, the deteriorating condition would have knocked me down. I am surviving at the mercy of relatives, good neighbours and friends who have continued to support my family,” he revealed.

The 71-year-old retired police officer said that as a result of health challenges, including high blood pressure and diabetes, which weaken him, he did not have the strength to do menial jobs. “I also battle severe back and leg pains, as well as excruciating body pains,” he added.

Baba, however, said Pencom introduced them to a health facility for treatment but they still paid 10 per cent of medical expenses under the scheme.

 “They give us a form to choose a hospital of our choice for treatment when we fall sick, or just like a health insurance. I registered my own at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital here in Bauchi. Whenever we are sick or need to see a doctor, they give us papers and we take them to the hospital, and after all the medications, we pay 10 per cent of the expenses. We don’t know whether these expenses are removed from our pension or not,” he also said. 

He appealed to the federal government to come to their aid to alleviate their suffering by reviewing the pension fund to meet up with the high cost of living. He said, “We, pensioners are struggling with deplorable conditions and require urgent rescue from untold hardship and untimely death. We are living in hell as we no longer enjoy anything in this life. What I mean is that we are just living but not experiencing anything good in life; nothing at all. We are appealing to the government.

We dedicated our lives but ended with nothing

In Kano, the story of retired police officers is not different from others across the country.

Sani Danyaro, who retired as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in 2014 after 35 years of service, having joined the Force in 1979, lives in Kano with N45,000 as monthly pension, which he said was too meagre to take care of his wife and 10 children. 

He said he knew no other job to engage in after retirement to augment his paltry pension, which cannot buy food items for his family, minus other needs like education and health of dependants.

 “As I speak to you, I am not well and I don’t have money to buy drugs. I am struggling to buy food to feed myself and my family.

“It is an irony that we dedicated our lives to the service of our country but ended up with nothing to fall back on. While in active service, it was only agriculture that we were told that one was allowed to do; and now, we collect peanut as pension, which, like I said, cannot take care of my health, let alone feeding and other needs,” Danyaro, lamented.

Asked how he survives with N45,000 monthly pension amidst the living crisis in the country, Danyaro said it was by divine grace because his pension, though paid regularly, was not close to meeting his daily needs.

The retired cop appealed to the authorities concerned to come to the aid of retirees who made sacrifices for the country during their active service period, saying they deserve a decent pension commensurate with their dedication and service to their fatherland.

Another retired police officer, Sadiq Gambo, said the situation was pathetic. He revealed that officers who attained the rank of a police commissioner got nothing more than N100,000 as monthly pension, even as many dependants look up to them for support.

Gambo, who retired as a Deputy Commissioner of Police, said officers who retired as DCPs earned N75,000, which he said was grossly inadequate to cater for them and their families in a country where the minimum wage is currently pegged at N70,000.

He said the situation required legislative review to bring it in tune with the current economic realities, otherwise aspiring young police officers may not have the motivation and the incentive to dedicate themselves to national service.

The secretary of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria (REPON), Kano State chapter, ASP Saidu Garba, who retired 15 years ago,  lamented what he called lack of marching words with action regarding the review of police pension by the National Assembly, which he said conducted public hearing in 2004 without any tangible outcome.

Garba joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1975 and rose through the ranks to retire as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in 2010. He said several public hearings were conducted by the National Assembly, including the one in 2014 when he retired but no concrete steps were taken to address the plight of police pensioners.

“Some of us spent our active adult lives in service to secure the country for others to live and sleep well. Some faced extremely difficult situations, including bloody riots in different parts of the country, but all these amounted to nothing when they retired. The system we operate is not fair to some us,” he lamented.

 

Police pensioners face bleak future

In his reaction, Chief Superintendent of Police Falana Adekunle (retd), appealed to the federal government to intervene in the non-payment of his pension entitlements by the pension board. 

CSP Adekunle, who retired in 2024 as a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the Epe area of Lagos State, told Weekend Trust on phone that life after service was hellish without any financial support.

According to him, his total monthly take home salary while in service was between N300,000 and N350,000, and that over one year after service, he is yet to collect his entitlement.

He said the first experience he had shortly after service came when he was kicked out of his apartment in the barracks without enough notice to enable him adjust to a new life.

He said, “My wife died about five years ago, so I live alone. For me, life in retirement is punishment and not a blessing. I now depend on friends for survival. I beg from one place to another, day in, day out. How can I continue like this after 35 years in service?”

Adekunle said he never believed various negative stories he heard about retired police officers until he retired and the reality dawned on him.

He also noted that police retirees always complained of non-payment or inadequate pension benefits, as well as delayed payment of benefits.

Also, DSP Patrick Karina, a Divisional Traffic Officer (DTO) who recently retired, said it was sad that most retirees faced challenges to get their benefits.

“I retired last year as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and the reality of retirement is gradually setting in.

“One of the first things I faced is that people no longer recognise you because they know that they won’t need your help again. Secondly, life in retirement is hard without the usual monthly salary and not knowing when you would be paid your benefits. 

“In my case, I learnt from those who retired before me. I saw how they struggled to survive on a daily basis and how some of them went cap in hand begging. In fact, those who still have children in school see them drop out as a result of their inability to pay school fees.

“What I did was to manage the little savings I had. My wife also embarked on small trading.

“I am still pursuing the payment of my benefits and hope it would come soon,” he added. 

Furthermore, DSP Omini Usang, a onetime acting Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) at Ajegunle police station, told our correspondent that he was paid a little above N2 million after 35 years of service. He said he retired in 2019 and struggled before he was received the benefit, which, according to him, was far below what he ought to have gotten. He noted that his monthly pay as a DSP in 2019 when he retired was a little above N40,000.

He said, “I want the government to look into what we are paid as benefits. How can one get a little above N2 million as benefit after serving the country for 35 years? What will one do with such amount? Some of us still have children in school and it is not enough to pay the university fees. What about feeding? Is it how one gets compensated after carrying guns and running after criminals all through the better part of one’s life?”

More so, ASP Lenyie Ngbaawii, who served as the Area Crime Officer, Area K command in Lagos and retired in 2019, said it was becoming increasingly difficult to survive.

ASP Ngbaawii said he was paid N2 million as retirement benefit and now recieving N30,000 monthly.

“I got N2 million as retirement benefit after 35 years. Even at that, getting to be paid the small sum was not easy. I had to struggle, lobby and beg serving colleagues to help me out,” he said.

 

‘We want an exit from the scheme’

In Niger State, retired police officers are also not left out of the lamentations. They decried poor pension and called for an exit from the contributory scheme.

A 72-year-old Abiodun Aliyu, a retired Senior Deputy Superintendent of Police, said his life after service was filled with disappointment, frustration and unfulfilled promises. “I am living through hell. To be frank, I am disappointed and pained to have experienced what I am passing through,” he lamented.

Aliyu, who retired in 2007 as a DPO in Niger State, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remove the Nigeria Police Force from the contributory pension scheme, describing it as exploitative and unjust, saying it has reduced the once proud police officers to beggars.

According to him, his pension is currently N52,000 and not enough to cater for his family, especially with two children still in the university. 

“We were told that we would be paid gratuity, but what I got was a so-called lump sum, for which there is no constitutional backing. My pension fund administrators told me that the money would be invested, but I have not received a single dividend,” he recounted.

Comparing the treatment meted out to retired police officers to their counterparts in other security agencies, Aliyu said, “The military was removed from the contributory scheme; even the Department of State Services (DSS) exited, but the police were left in. Why? A senior DSP is equivalent to a Captain in the Army, but check what a Captain collects as salary or pension. Some junior DSPs receive N35, 000 as pension while a military officer of the same rank gets four times of that.”

He added that many of his colleagues died in pain and poverty due to delayed and unpaid pensions, lamenting, “This contributory pension scheme is a killer. It is draining us dry.”

Aliyu said nothing had changed despite appealing to the National Assembly for intervention.

Mohammed Makanta, who retired as a DSP in 2024, said he just got his gratuity paid in June this year while still waiting to start receiving his monthly pension.

He said he was not able to build his own house before leaving the Force, forcing him to squat in their family house.

“I was given N2.7 million as gratuity last month, over one year after I retired. But until now, I have not started receiving my pension,” he said.

Also, Inspector Adamu Usman, who retired in 2012, is struggling with health challenges and N23,000 monthly pension after he was paid N2.2 million as gratuity.

He said some of his children had dropped out of school because of his health challenge and lack of money.

Apart from lamentations over pension and delay in payment of gratuities, there are complaints over disparity in the payment of retirement benefits to other security officers in the country.

Gambo B. Kasumba, a retired Superintendent of Police, decried the alleged disparity when compared to other forces. Kasumba, who retired in 2023 after 35 years of service, described life after retirement as boring and hellish.

He said it was unfair to deny police retirees their complete entitlements by paying them in installment. “No matter how long it will take to get your balance, one would only receive the same amount while the money continues to lose its value,” lamented.

He also suggested that the police should be equipped with professional training before retirement age and empowered with capital as is obtainable in other security organisations like the military. This, according to him, will assist retirees sustain themselves and people who depend on them. 

The retired police officer said it took him two years to receive the first installment of his gratuity, which was just N200,000 as his cooperative payment; and after about a year, he received his national housing fund, which was 

 

‘Life can be better’

N320,000.

“Can you imagine that my insurance benefit as a retired Superintendent of Police was N400,000? Again, I didn’t get my monthly pension until about two years into retirement, and it was not up to N80,000, in comparison to about N250,000 I was receiving as my monthly salary before retirement. This is not comparable to what my contemporaries in other services receive.

“Life after retirement is boring. I have three children, and the last is still in secondary school in my home state of Kaduna. What have saved me are the menial jobs I engage in. I have a farm but I also go to other farms for a day’s labour and get paid for it,” he said.

The retiree, who lives inside the M.D Abubakar Barracks, also known as Mopol Barracks, located at Dei-Dei community in Abuja, said he had remained in a two-bedroom flat there entitled to only a serving police officer by luck, not grace, saying a police officer is usually kicked out of the barracks immediately after retirement.

“I was able to remain in the house because of my wife who also joined the Nigeria Police Force while I was an inspector. Immediately after retirement, the house was transferred to her,” he explained.

He also appealed that the NPF be exempted from the contributory pension scheme, saying, “The Nigeria Police Force is supposed to be pensionable; how can you contribute to your own retirement as a government worker?

“They keep deducting from your money, but after retirement they give you your money in peanuts, not in bulk so that you can use it for something profitable. I am sure this is the worry of every policeman today, whether serving or retired. Let them just disengage the police from this satanic arrangement,” Kasumba, pleaded. 

A 71-year-old Gabriel Bamidele Fakiyes retired voluntarily as an ASP in 2012, just a year before his official retirement due to his health condition, which he still battles with, after putting in 34 years in service.

He said, “I was paid my gratuity in two installments within a year, amounting to N6 million and have been getting N30,00 as pension monthly. This amount can’t solve my monthly expenses, which include feeding, children’s school fees and my health issues.”

In the same vein, police retirees in Bayelsa State have narrated the difficulties they face before receiving what they termed ‘peanuts’ as pension and gratuity.

Some of the retired officers who spoke with Weekend Trust on condition of anonymity said that even when they were in active service, their salaries were not enough to take care of their needs, not to talk of now that they have retired, coupled with the present economic challenges in the country.

 

Moving to the academia

A Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) who retired in 2018 told Weekend Trust that his salary was N130,000, which could not take care of his needs. He said that upon retirement, he received N2,200,000 as gratuity, a situation that has made life difficult for him and his family.

He, however, said he had plans to diversify into the academia as a lecturer in order to get additional income and survive the harsh economic situation in the country.

He said, “We receive peanuts as pension compared to those in the military. It is like anyone who served the country as a policeman is always regretting because of the way we are treated. It is because of the contributory pension scheme. We are hoping that the National Assembly would do something to exit us from that draconian law. Once that is done, we will begin to smile home. 

 “After retirement, I am now applying scale of preference, opportunity cost principles we learnt in secondary school to survive. Those things you used to do when you were in the service, you no longer do them because if you do, things will be tough in the family. So we reduce cost to the nearest minimum.

“I am still strong, struggling and thinking of getting into academic studies. I have a Bachelor of Science; I have PGD in Journalism and BSC in Mass Communication. In fact, if not that motor accident fractured my two hands, I am planning to do a master’s in Mass Communication so that I can join lecturing work.”

Another police personnel who retired in December 2024 as a DSP told Weekend Trust that his promotion came as he was retiring, but as ASP, his salary was N200,000 and sometimes N150,000 because they don’t have a regular salary structure in the NPF.

“It has not been long that I retired. I retired in December 2024 as DSP. I am yet to get my pension. I am processing the retirement pension but the process is very strenuous. Before you can get the money, it is almost a year if you are lucky. The people that applied last year have told me that they had gotten their own. I am just waiting for my own, but I don’t know when it will come. Let me just finish the process before I know what to do.

“For now, I have not engaged in any other thing, let me just think about what I should go into, but I don’t want to do anything pertaining work now.

“It was almost at the time of retirement that they promoted me to DSP, so I didn’t even receive salaries of that rank.

“Recently, while I was processing my pension, I saw somebody who retired in December 2013 and he only got his pension about three months ago. So for now, I don’t know how much they would pay me until I receive a consent letter.

“They called me about three months ago to sign my consent letter, but as I went there, they said they were still waiting for data to come.

“Life has been very difficult after retirement, some of the people we retired together are even finding it difficult to pay transportation to come and process their pensions,” he alleged.

 

Contributory pension will collapse if the police exit the scheme

A former Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Ambrose Aisabor (rtd) speaking on police monthly pension, police retirees pension problem began in 2004, with the passage of Pension reform by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which include the police contribution pension scheme exclude other security agencies like military, DSS DMI amogst others.

AIG Aisabor who didn’t disclose his pension, said with the pension reform, officers from the rank of commissioners downward have been facing untold hardship occasioned by poor monthly pension.

According to him, “A commissioner of Police earns a monthly pension of N76,000, Deputy commissioner N60,000, Superintendent N46,000, inspector N30,000. Some police retirees are collecting as low as N20,000,”

He said efforts by the leadership of the police to ensure that it is exempted from the contributory pension scheme have proved abortive.

He alleged that PENCOM saddled with the responsibility of managing the fund and other stakeholders have been frustrating the efforts, as saying contributory pension will collapse if the police exited the scheme.

“It is unheard of that officers that  served his country for 35 years are receiving N20 000, N30, 000 and N40 000, N45,000 and N76,000 as monthly pension. Where is this done”.

Aisabor described the development in human for somebody that serve his country for  35 years to be recieving  receiving N20, 000, N25,000, N30,000, N40,000, N50,000 monthly as pension.

“Many of these retirees don’t have houses and are still pay rent, many are dying and can’t meet their expenses, and medical bills leading to death of many police retirees. These are the consequences of poor pension for retired police officers” He said.

He advised that the police should be exited from the contributory pension scheme while government should take care of the police pension the same way as the military and other security service. 

 

The scheme

In separate interviews with Weekend Trust, retired police officers described the contributory pension scheme being managed by Pencom as a “scam.”

They argued that such a scheme should be totally scrapped from critical agencies like security agencies if not all the agencies and revert to the former Defined Benefits Scheme being managed by the PTAD.

Christopher Effiong, a retired Superintendent of Police, told our correspondent that he had been receiving N41,000 as his monthly take-home after he was paid N2 million lump sum seven years ago when he exited the service.

He said, “We suffered frustration from the police hierarchy. For example, in 2017, the then Inspector-General of Police, Idris Kpotun had to frustrate our efforts when a public hearing on that bill came up. He sent his legal adviser to present a memorandum that the police were comfortable with the contributory pension scheme.

“That was how our efforts were thwarted. Since then, we have suffered. By 2023, we were near coming out again from it, but eventually, the system collapsed when the 9th Assembly rounded off. The bill was only passed at the Senate level. The bill in the House of Representatives was not passed; and because of that, the president did not endorse it.

“When IGP Egbetokun decided to invite police officers for an interactive session in February 9 to 11, this year, we met at the Police Resource Centre at Jabi. Papers were presented. The chairman of the Police Service Commission was there. The president of the National Association of Police Retirees was also there. They presented their papers earlier. At the end of the day, the IGP gave us a proposal that he had met with the president. But since then, nothing has come up. It is considered that that forum was illicit, that is why agitation is coming up now.

“When I finished seven years ago, they gave me N2 million and a small fraction. They also gave me how they worked it out. I don’t have my documents now.

“That is cheating. We have suffered. I was privileged to work within and outside the country. We had two grids at the end of the day. We discovered that. That was what was given to us; and it continues till now. Particularly those of us who served above 20 years were pensionable as at the time they introduced this contributory pension scheme.

“With all these things, I can just tell you that the contributory pension scheme or Pencom as you call it is a scam. It is a fraud.” the retired police officer said.

Another police officer who did not want his name printed said the agitations of retired police officers would continue to grow unless they are removed from that scheme, which he also described as fraudulent.

“It is either they give us a police pension board as is applicable to the military and the intelligence community or take us to the Defined Benefit Scheme, which is controlled by the PTAD. That has been our request.

“On the Defined Benefits Scheme, they pay you according to your rank. They pay you 300 per cent of your last annual gross pay for retirement and gratuity, and continue to pay you 80 per cent of the last salary you were collecting while in service.

“For instance, my last salary was N300,000 as a Superintendent of Police. As I retired, they paid me 80 per cent of that. That’s what it is supposed to be. Then 300 per cent of the last gross for three years, and all together, they added and gave me as gratuity. I don’t know how they calculate their lump sum. They pay us about one quarter of what we are supposed to get – 25 per cent,” he narrated.

When contacted, the Force spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said he would find out the status of the work being done by the NPF Pensions Limited charged by the IGP to review the pension scheme of officers.

Adejobi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, promised to get back to one of our correspondents after he must have finished his findings, but he was yet to do when filing this report.

When some staff of the NPF Pensions Limited were approached for comments, they said they did not have the authority to speak on the matter at the moment.

 

Way forward

Earlier on June 26, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun ordered the NPF Pensions Limited to identify possible lapses in the pension scheme and ensure that appropriate action was taken to address it.

The directive of the police boss came after an allegation was raised in a viral video by a retired Superintendent of Police regarding the welfare and retirement benefits of police pensioners.

Egbetokun had said, “The Nigeria Police Force is not insensitive to the plight of its pensioners, many of whom dedicated their lives to the service and safety of our nation.

“The welfare of both serving and retired officers is a priority, and we recognise that timely and adequate pension administration is crucial to sustaining morale and institutional integrity.

“While efforts have consistently been made to improve the pension system, I acknowledge the importance of constructive feedback in prompting necessary reforms.

“I, therefore, reassure all officers, both serving and retired, and their families of the Force’s commitment to improved welfare, and to building a system that honours their sacrifices.

“I urge stakeholders to remain calm and patient as the NPF Pensions carries out its investigations and engages relevant agencies to ensure lasting solutions.”

Contributions from Datti Ahmad (Kano), Willie Bassey (Bayelsa), Adam Umar (Suleja), Eugene Agha (Lagos), Abubakar Akote (Minna), AdoAbubakar Musa (Jos), Hassan Ibrahim (Bauchi) & Usman A Bello (Edo)