Police Pensioners Tackle FG Over Entitlements
No fewer than 2,300 retired police officers in Lagos on Monday cried out over the nonchallant manner the Federal Government is handling the issues of their pensions and other entitlements in the last 12 years.
Speaking with P.M.NEWS during the verification exercise of retired police officers and the next-of-kin of deceased officers at the Association of Retired Police Officers secretariat, GRA, Ikeja, some of the officers lamented that despite the fact that they served their father land for decades, successive governments have failed to address their plights over their pensions and other entitlements.
Mr. Samuel Ofagbon, provost of Retired Police Officers Association of Nigeria, RPOAN, Lagos State chapter, lamented during the exercise that initially, retired rank and file were paid about N2,500 monthly.
“However, when Obasanjo came on board, he increased the amount from N2,500 to N35,000 for retired police officers,” he said, adding; “Regrettably, however, from the regime of Obasanjo through to the present regime of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, no pensioners or their next-of-kin have been paid their entitlements.
The RPOAN provost, however, commended the authorities of the Nigerian Police Force for their consistency in paying the salaries of retired police officers.
Also speaking on the non- payment of arrears of entitlements, Mr. Oji Oji, a 100-year-old officer, who retired as a sergeant in 1947, said the nation has been most cruel to him, as he collected his monthly salary of N10,000 last in February 2010.
Oji, who spoke through his son, Matthew, lamented that in the past seven years, “I have been shuttling on wheelchair between my home and the secretariat to participate in the endless verification, which may eventually lead to non-payment of the entitlements.
The leader of the verification team, Mrs. Sherifat Abiola, while confirming the 2,300 retired officers slated for verification, did not comment on the non-payment, saying that the issue did not fall within the jurisdiction of her team.
—Emmanuel Udom
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