The House of Representatives has passed a Bill seeking to remove personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), setting the stage for a distinct pension system dedicated to police officers.
The proposed legislation, titled “A Bill for an Act to Establish the Nigeria Police Force Pension Board,” is designed to provide a more effective and transparent framework for managing pensions and gratuities of serving and retired police personnel.
Under the new arrangement, police officers will be exempted from the Pension Reform Act’s contributory scheme and will instead be entitled to 85 per cent of their total emoluments as pension. The move aims to ensure timely and equitable payment of benefits to all retired members of the Force.
The Bill, which now awaits the Senate’s concurrence before transmission to the President for assent, also seeks to amend Section 5(1a) of the Pension Reform Act, 2014, to list the Nigeria Police Force among the groups already excluded from the scheme—alongside members of the Armed Forces and the intelligence and secret services.
When signed into law, the legislation will establish the Nigeria Police Pension Board, to be headed by a Director-General—a serving officer not below the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG)—and a Secretary, who must be a senior police officer and a lawyer with at least ten years of post-call experience.
The proposed board will assume responsibility for administering and paying pensions and gratuities to retired officers, taking over these functions from the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
It will also oversee the disbursement of compassionate gratuities, death benefits, and other entitlements to the next of kin of deceased officers.
According to Section 14, “There shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, all such sums of money as may be granted by the Federal Government by way of pension and gratuity in accordance with this Bill.”
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Section 15 outlines eligibility criteria, stating that no officer shall receive pension or gratuity unless they have served 35 years or reached the age of 60, whichever comes first. It also allows benefits in cases of voluntary retirement after ten years, compulsory retirement, or medical incapacity.
The law further provides under Section 17 that “a pension granted to a personnel under this Bill shall not be less than 85 per cent of his total emoluments,” adding that “an additional pension granted in respect of injuries shall not be taken into account, but where the personnel is granted such an additional pension under the Bill, the amount so granted, together with the remainder of his pension under this Bill shall not exceed 100 per cent of highest pensionable emoluments at any time in the course of his service.”
Section 19 stipulates that “where a personnel dies within five years after retirement, his next of kin shall continue to be paid for a period which shall expire at the end of five years from the date of his retirement, the same pension which the deceased personnel was receiving prior to his death.” The section also allows the next of kin to receive the balance of the deceased’s pension immediately upon election.
Finally, Section 21 states that “a pension or gratuity granted under this Bill shall not be assignable or transferable or liable to be attached, sequestrated or levied upon for or in respect of any debt or claim whatsoever except for the purpose of satisfying a debt due to the Federal Government or by an order of court for the payment for a periodic sum of money.”
