Many retired police officers defied a morning rain, on Monday, to stage a protest at the entrance of the National Assembly in Abuja, demanding their immediate removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The protesting ex-police officers, most of them elderly, stood in the rain chanting solidarity songs, brandishing placards with diverse inscriptions, demanding a halt to their neglect by previous and present police administrations in the country. They vehemently demanded that their welfare and dignity that had been neglected for too long be restored.
One of the protesting officers, retired Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP Manir Lawal (retd.), asked the Federal Government to remove police retirees from the pension scheme, describing it as exploitative and unjust.
”We are here to ask the government to remove us from the CPS,” Lawal said. “The pension scheme is exploitative and unjust.
“I am 67 years old. Many of us here are in our 60s and 70s. We have served this country faithfully and deserve to retire in dignity. This scheme has impoverished us. It is our right to demand better.”
The retirees shunned all appeals to leave the rain, vowing to co.ti he the demonstration until their agitations were addressed by the leadership of the National Assembly.
In obedience to the instruction by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, that the protesting retired officers be protected, Security operatives were on hand to monitoring the protest, possibly to prevent any breakdown of law and order.