Former officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service, represented by the Retired Correctional Officers, have petitioned President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, and various stakeholders, requesting their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The retirees cited the unfavorable conditions they face within the scheme as the primary reason for their appeal, emphasizing their dire situation after retirement. In a statement released by the association’s National Coordinator, Mr. Sanya Abakun, after the group’s meeting in Akure, Ondo State, the members highlighted the scheme’s lack of benefits, expressing deep concern over its inability to secure a sustainable post-retirement life for retired officers.
According to him, the scheme was extremely unpleasant to them as he said the monthly pensions could hardly meet today’s economic realities and the outcome of which has continually been taking its toll on its members “through untold hardship, depression, deprivation and untimely deaths few months and/or years after retirement.”
He said, “With the rate of inflation in the country, it’s unimaginable and very sad that under the Contributory Pension Scheme, monthly pensions of retired controllers/commandants hitherto on grade level 15 in the paramilitary is in the average of N75,000, deputy controller on level 14 earns N65,000; assistant controller on level 13 is N60,000; chief superintendent on grade level 12 is N50,000; deputy superintendents on level 10 is on the monthly pension of majority of the retired inspectors are on N19,000 monthly pension which is a far cry from earnings of their counterpart in the military, the DSS and the police. For the sole reasons, they have been pulled out of the contributory Pension Scheme.
“If the pension arrangement was beneficial, what informed the decision of other security agencies including the National Assembly staff and police to pull out? We believe that what is nice for the goose is also decent for the gander because, in the security architecture of the country, the roles of none of the paramilitary organisations can’t be pushed aside.
“We all work to complement each other’s role. Correctional officers work long hours behind bars and all other paramilitary agencies keep vigil for you to have a sound sleep, yet the retired paramilitary agency was not recognised accordingly after retirement.”
Abakun advocated the return of the retired paramilitary officers to the old Defined Benefit Scheme, saying it would reduce the suffering and hardship to which the retirees are subjected by the Pension Commission.
He also emphasised on implementation of the pension rights as enshrined in section 173 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), particularly section 173 (3) which states inter Alia, “Pensions shall be reviewed every five years or together with any federal civil service salary reviews, whichever is earlier.”
The coordinator urged Tinubu, the Senate President, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the members of the National Assembly to intervene in the matter and pull his members out from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
