Senate passes bill excluding police force from pension scheme despite opposition from NLC, PenCom

The senate has passed the bill for the establishment of a police pension board to exclude the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the contributory pension scheme (CPS) and return the force to the old defined benefit scheme (DBS).

The upper chamber made this known on Tuesday, June 6.

The bill was passed despite the opposition from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Recall that the senate and pension operator clashed over the NPF’s request for exemption from the CPS in January 2023.

At the public hearing organised by the senate committee on police affairs on January 20, PenCom, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, and NLC, opposed the bill.

Boss Mustapha, the immediate past secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), wrote to the inspector general of police (IGP), reminding him that there was an SGF circular Ref. 59149/S.1/C.1/11/266, which said that the police must be under the CPS.

Mustapha also referred to the White Paper on the report of the presidential committee on restructuring and rationalization of federal government parastatals, commissions and agencies which expressly forbids any government body, apart from the military and the intelligence services, from exiting the CPS.

It is pertinent to note that under the CPS, both the employee and the employer are expected to make contributions towards the employee’s pension.

This is in contrast with the DBS, under which all the burden is borne by the federal government.