By Naomi Sharang
The Senate on Tuesday, considered a bill seeking to establish the Police Pension Board.
The bill which scaled second reading at plenary, was sponsored by Sen. Elisha Abbo (Adamawa- North).
The bill was read for the first time on June 14.
Leading the debate on the bill, Abbo noted that the current pension arrangement of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was under the Pension Commission by virtue of Section 5(1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014.
According to him, the Nigeria police, though a premier law enforcement and security agency, is left on the Contributory Pension Scheme unlike the Army, Navy, Air Force and other security agencies that had their Pension Boards.
“The resultant inclusion and continuous stay of the NPF in PENCOM has placed them on the wrong end of the post service emolument life, though the Nigeria police is saddled with the responsibility of not only protecting the lives and property of the citizenry, but also detecting and preventing crimes.”
The lawmaker expressed dismay at the disparities between the pension and gratuity benefits of the police and those of its counterparts in the military.
“A cursory look at the difference between the pension and gratuity benefits of the Nigeria police and her counterpart in the military, shows for example, the benefit of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) under the current Pension Scheme is N2.5 million.That of an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) is N1.5 million.
“While their equivalents of DSP in the Army (Captain), Navy (Lieutenant), Air Force (Flight Lieutenant) and the DSS (Captain) are paid N12.8 million and N10.3 million,” Abbo said.
He added that ensuring equity and justice in the payment of pensions would boost the morale of serving personnel as well as enhance the standard of living of the retired personnel of the Nigerian police force.
President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan thereafter, referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Police Affairs for further legislative attention.
The committee was given four weeks to report back to the chamber in plenary.(NAN)
