Hundreds of retired police officers under Nigeria’s Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) brought central Abuja to a standstill on Monday, barricading the main gate of the Force Headquarters in protest against a retirement system they described as dehumanising and corrupt.
The elderly former officers, many of them visibly frail, refused repeated pleas from top police officials to disperse. They demanded an audience with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, insisting that their years of sacrifice had been rewarded only with poverty, neglect, and broken promises.
Their protest, staged after a march from the National Assembly, formed part of a nationwide agitation. Retired police personnel in Edo and Kwara states also took to the streets, describing the pension scheme as a “killer policy” that has left them destitute. In Oyo, the Take-It-Back movement staged a solidarity demonstration to highlight the plight of police retirees.
At the Force Headquarters, the IGP met with the protesters and offered a message of empathy, stating, “We are also going to retire one day. We feel your pain.” He confirmed ongoing discussions with senior officials—including the National Security Adviser—to seek lasting solutions to the crisis.
Egbetokun also attempted to clarify his stance on the controversial pension framework, saying he was not opposed to pulling the police out of the CPS—a key demand of the retirees. However, he stressed that the decision was not within the purview of any single Inspector General.
“The agitation to exit the CPS has been ongoing since 2014. All previous IGs have tried. But the reality is that it goes beyond one person. Still, if exiting will bring peace and dignity to our retirees, I will support it,” he said.
The CPS, introduced in 2004, requires workers to contribute 7 per cent of their salaries, while the government pays 8 per cent. But retirees say the returns are pitiful. Many report receiving as little as ₦30,000 per month after 35 years of service—a sum they say cannot meet basic needs.
Leading the protest in Abuja, retired Chief Superintendent of Police Manir Lawal accused past police leadership of misrepresenting their case to lawmakers. “We have nothing at home,” he said in an emotional speech. “Even our wives and children no longer respect us.”
In Edo State, retired officers under the banner of the National Association of Retired Officers converged on the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ press centre to raise their voices. “The scheme is riddled with fraud and corruption,” said SP Anthony Nnachor (retd.), who called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and end what he called “this evil pension system.”
A similar scene played out in Ilorin, Kwara State, where members of the Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria (ARPON) also staged a protest. Their demands included the creation of a dedicated police pension board and immediate disbursement of ₦758 billion owed in pension shortfalls to security personnel—a payment they said had been scheduled for June but was still pending.
“Our members are dying,” said Yakubu Jimoh, a retired CSP and state chairman of ARPON. “The scheme is a death sentence. We want out.”
The group’s legal adviser, Adekunle Iwalaiye, added that the CPS has reduced loyal officers to beggars. “Imagine serving for 35 years only to be paid ₦2.4 million as gratuity and ₦30,000 a month to live on. That’s not a pension—it’s a punishment,” he said.
Although police retirees in Oyo stayed away from the protests, Take-It-Back movement activists staged a symbolic march to the state police command. “We are here to demand justice for those who served this country and are now abandoned,” said the group’s state coordinator, Solomon Eniola.
As the government continues to delay action, tension is mounting. The former officers say they are no longer willing to suffer in silence, and unless something changes, they will escalate their campaign—not just for themselves, but for generations of officers to come.
“The time for polite requests is over,” said Lawal. “We have been pushed to the wall. We’re not asking for favours. We’re demanding the dignity we earned in uniform.”
