· Retired personnel to earn 85% of total emoluments as minimum pension

· Reps pass Bill to exempt force from CPS

The House of Representatives has passed into law a Bill seeking to remove members of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The new law, titled “A Bill for an Act to establish the Nigeria Police Force Pension Board,” is meant to ensure an effective administration of pension and gratuity for the personnel of the force.

It exempts them from the application of the contributory pension scheme (CPS) under the Pension Reform Act and provides that police personnel would be paid 85 per cent of their total emoluments as pension.

The law is to establish a uniform set of rules, regulations, and standards for the administration and payment of retirement benefits of retired personnel of the police force and ensure that every personnel who served in the force receives their retirement benefits as and when due.

The Bill is currently awaiting concurrence in the Senate before it will be sent to the President for assent.

When assented to by the President, the law will exempt NPF personnel from the CPS by amending Section 5(1a) of the Pension Reforms Act 2014 and adding the NPF to the section.

The section lists the categories of persons to be exempted from the CPS to include members of the Armed Forces, the intelligence and secret services of the federation. It will now include the Nigeria Police Force.

The law establishes a Nigeria Police Pensions Board to be headed by a Director General who shall be a serving police officer not below the rank of an Assistant Inspector of Police (AIG) and a Secretary who will also be a senior police officer who must have been called to the Nigerian Bar with not less than 10 years post-call experience.

The board is expected to take over the payment of gratuity and pension of retired police officers from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and cause the adjustment of their pension and gratuity to be commensurate with the provisions of the law.

It will also be responsible for the payment of pension and gratuity to all personnel of the NPF as well as pay compassionate gratuity, death benefits, and entitlement of deceased police officers and men to their next of kin.

Section 14 of the Bill reads: “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.

Section 15 provides for circumstances in which pensions may be granted, stating that no pension or gratuity shall be granted under this Bill to any personnel except on his retirement from the force after serving for 35 years or attaining the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier.

It also states that pension will be paid on voluntary retirement after serving for not less than 10 years; on compulsory retirement under the provisions of Section 16(1), on compulsory retirement for the purpose of facilitating improvements in the force, so that greater efficiency or economy may be affected and at any time on medical evidence to the satisfaction of the Medical Board that he is incapable by reason of any infirmity of mind or body of discharging his duties and that such infirmity is likely to be permanent.

Section 17 of the law, which provides for the minimum and the maximum pension, states that “a pension granted to a personnel under this bill shall not be less than 85 per cent of his total emoluments”.

It also states that: “For the purpose of this section, 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.”

In Section 19, the law provides 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, and if the next of kin so elects, the balance of his pension at his death may be paid immediately to the next of kin or designated survivor.

The law also provides for the payment of gratuity to the family of a deceased personnel, in addition to what the law calls the death gratuity, while the pension payable shall end after five years after the death of the personnel.

Section 21 provides 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.” (The Nation)