The House of Representatives Committees on Police Affairs and Pensions yesterday told retired police officers demonstrating at the main gate of the National Assembly complex to go home, as their demands had been addressed. The ex-officers have in the last six weeks been protesting against the retention of police retirees in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Apart from demanding their exit from the scheme, the placard-carrying protesters complained about delayed payments, inadequate lumpsum benefits and irregular monthly stipends that cannot sustain basic living.

According to them, the CPS, as administered under the Pension Reform Act 2024, has failed to address the peculiar hazards and conditions of police service.

But addressing a press conference, the Committee on Police Affairs Chairman, Makke Yalleman, and his Committee on Pensions counterpart, Hussein Jalo, said a bill for an Act to establish the Police Pension Board had been passed by the House and would soon be forwarded to the Senate for concurrence and onward transmission to the President for his assent.

Yalleman said the leadership of the House would meet with its Senate counterpart to ensure that the bill receives accelerated concurrence. He said: “We are mourning our colleague in the Senate who died this morning. But God willing, I’m assuring you by next week, this bill is going to the President for his assent.”

He added: “We want the media to help us engage those veteran police officers who have been sleeping outside for weeks here. “Please talk to them and explain to them that we have addressed their demands.”

Jalo, on his part, said the committee had been working in synergy with the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the Pensions Board to address the complaints.

According to him, the Bill for an Act to Establish Nigeria Police Pension Board (HB979) had been sent to the Senate for harmonisation and onward forwarding to the President for his assent. Jalo said: “My plea to them is to leave the gate and go back to their homes.”

“Police want to exit from PENCOM, the Contributory Pension Scheme. They just want to be on their own, just like the Military Pensions Board, DSS Pensions, NIA Pensions, CDI Pensions and the rest. And that is what the House has done already. “So my call to them is to exercise more restraint and have patience and go back to their houses.”