Tinubu’s government is now working on higher police pensions, but the law that would create a separate Police Pension Board remains unsigned, leaving retirees asking whether the promised intervention is a substitute for legislation.
The most revealing fact in Nigeria’s widening police pension dispute may not be the allegation that more than 20 retired officers have died within six months.
It is that the Federal Government now appears to be pursuing a second solution to a problem for which the National Assembly has already produced legislation.
On October 5, while retired police officers were again protesting over their pensions, the Ministry of Police Affairs met the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria and acknowledged the seriousness of their concerns.
The same day, the Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Police Force Pensions Limited disclosed that a presidential committee was working on measures to improve the take-home pay of police retirees.
Yet the central piece of legislation demanded by the retirees remains unresolved.
The Nigeria Police Force Pension Board (Establishment) Bill, 2025, passed by the National Assembly in December 2025, is intended to take the Nigeria Police Force out of the Contributory Pension Scheme and establish a dedicated pension system for police personnel.
Retirees say it was transmitted to President Bola Tinubu on March 16, 2026.
By October 6, that is 204 days.
The Constitution provides that once a bill is presented to the President for assent, he is to signify assent or withholding of assent within 30 days.
The public question is therefore no longer simply whether Nigerian police retirees deserve better pensions.
It is this:
What has happened to the law Parliament already passed, and is the Government’s emerging promise of higher monthly pensions intended to replace it, delay it or complement it?
That question has become more urgent because the administration has not publicly published a comprehensive explanation of its position on the bill.
A Protest That Has Outlived Government Assurances
The latest confrontation is the product of repeated promises, suspensions and renewed demonstrations.
Police retirees resumed their indefinite protest campaign on September 29 under the slogan “No Retreat; No Surrender”, after previously suspending action following an assurance attributed to Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu.
The forum says Disu met its leadership on August 6 and indicated that the pension dispute would be addressed within two weeks after further consultations with President Tinubu.
The retirees say the deadline passed without a resolution.
“From 6th of August till on the 29th of September that we resumed this protest again, nothing was done, that’s why we reactivated the protest,” National Coordinator of the forum, retired CSP Raphael I. Irowainu, said.
The Ministry of Police Affairs confirmed on October 5 that it had again engaged the retirees.
Its Permanent Secretary, Anuma Ogbonnaya Nlia, told the forum that the Ministry had already communicated its position to the Presidency and would send another reminder.
But the Ministry also introduced an important qualification.
It said moving from the CPS to a Defined Benefit Scheme would require “careful policy, legal and executive consideration.”
That wording matters.
It suggests the matter is not being treated inside government as a simple question of signing a completed administrative document.
The proposed change would alter who carries the financial risk of police retirement, how pensions are funded and how future liabilities are absorbed by the Federal Government.
The Bill Is Real. So Is the Fiscal Question
The legislation is not merely a political demand drafted by protesters.
The House of Representatives passed the Nigeria Police Force Pension Board legislation in October 2025, after which the Senate considered it and passed it on December 4, 2025. The Senate described the measure as establishing an independent pension management body for police personnel and taking the Force out of the CPS.
The proposed arrangement goes considerably further than simply increasing current monthly pensions.
Reporting on the bill says it would establish a dedicated Police Pension Board, transfer responsibility for police pensions and gratuities from the existing CPS structure and provide that a pension granted under the proposed law should not be below 85 per cent of total emoluments. It would also place pension and gratuity obligations on the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
That 85 per cent provision is potentially the financial heart of the dispute.
Under the CPS, retirement benefits are linked to an individual Retirement Savings Account, contributions, investment returns and the applicable retirement payment mechanism. PenCom itself says CPS retirement payments are made from contributors’ RSAs, which contain contributions, investment returns and applicable accrued rights.
A return to a Defined Benefit arrangement changes that equation.
The state assumes a much greater long-term obligation.
And Nigeria has been down that road before.
At a 2023 public hearing on an earlier Police Pension Board proposal, PenCom said actuarial calculations put the potential retirement-benefit liability for about 307,154 police personnel at roughly N1.84 trillion under the old Defined Benefit structure.
That figure is historical, not a current 2026 costing of the present bill.
But it explains why the pension argument has never been only about compassion.
It is also about public finance.
The central policy question is whether Nigeria can permanently fund a much more generous police pension system without recreating the unfunded liabilities, arrears and budget pressures that helped undermine the previous arrangement.
Why the Police Are Still Inside the CPS
The legal inequality at the centre of the retirees’ anger is straightforward.
The Pension Reform Act provides for a broad contributory system while exempting categories including members of the Armed Forces and intelligence and secret services of the Federation. The police are not among those listed categories.
That distinction has become politically explosive.
The retirees argue that police officers face risks comparable to, and in some respects more continuous than, those faced by other security personnel.
The Police Act assigns the Force responsibility for preventing and detecting crime, maintaining public safety and law and order, and protecting lives and property.
Irowainu’s argument is blunt:
“The major crux of our agitation is for the Nigerian Police Force to be exempted from the slavery and exploitative Contributory Pension Scheme.”
He argues that police officers have effectively been left in a different pension class despite occupying a central position in Nigeria’s internal security architecture.
PenCom sees the issue differently.
In July, Director-General Omolola Oloworaran said the police had not exited the CPS and said the dispute was largely driven by dissatisfaction with the size of police retirement benefits compared with those of the Armed Forces.
“The police have not exited the Contributory Pension Scheme,” she said.
She added that PenCom was discussing ways to improve benefits rather than necessarily removing the Force from the system.
In another statement, she said: “We share their frustration because we stand for anything that puts more money in the pockets of ordinary Nigerians.”
That is an important admission.
PenCom is not saying there is no welfare problem.
Its argument is that the remedy should be better benefits, not necessarily abandonment of the CPS.
Now Government Is Talking About More Money
The dispute took a new turn this week.
Muhammed Dutse, Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Police Force Pensions Limited, said the Federal Government was working on measures to increase the take-home pay of retired police officers.
He said a presidential committee was handling the initiative.
“Currently, there’s an attempt by the Federal Government. It’s in fact in the process. And we have been working to ensure that the pay, the take-home pay of retirees is improved,” Dutse said.
He declined to give details because, he said, the arrangement was being worked on by a presidential committee.
That creates the central unresolved issue in the dispute.
Is the Government preparing to improve pensions within the CPS while leaving the Police Exit Bill unsigned?
Or is the committee preparing a transitional arrangement that could ultimately accompany the legislation?
No public document reviewed by Atlantic Post establishes that the committee’s work is a substitute for the bill.
That lack of clarity is now feeding the distrust.
The Federal Ministry of Police Affairs itself said on October 5 that the Police Exit demand remained under consideration while stressing the need for legal, policy and executive decisions.
The Numbers Are Disturbing — But They Need Proper Verification
One of the strongest claims made by PROF is also one of the most difficult to independently verify.
Irowainu said:
“The police in the last six months, we have lost over 20 retirees as a result of lack of fund to take care of their medical needs.”
The forum says it is compiling the names of the deceased.
That distinction is critical.
The deaths claim should be treated as an allegation until the names, dates, locations and causes of death can be independently matched against hospital, family, police, pension or civil-registration records.
Atlantic Post found no official mortality register confirming that more than 20 police retirees died specifically because they could not afford medical care during the stated six-month period.
That does not mean the claim is false.
It means the evidence has not yet been published.
And that evidence should be produced.
The dispute has been accompanied by mortality claims before. In 2023, retired officers publicly claimed that more than 500 policemen had died since the introduction of the scheme. That figure was also presented as a claim by the retirees rather than an independently audited statistic.
A pension dispute involving human lives cannot be settled by competing press statements.
It requires records.
So, How Much Do Police Retirees Actually Receive?
This is another area where the public debate needs better evidence.
The figures quoted by retired officers vary across different protests and interviews.
In the latest account supplied to Atlantic Post, Irowainu said retired Assistant Superintendents receive roughly N2.1 million to N2.5 million as lump sums, with monthly pensions around N25,000.
He put Deputy Superintendents at around N2.2 million to N2.4 million and about N30,000 monthly.
For Superintendents, he cited N2.5 million to N2.8 million and monthly payments of about N35,000 to N40,000.
He said Chief Superintendents receive about N3.5 million and between N39,000 and N45,000 monthly.
For Assistant Commissioners, he cited N5 million to N6 million and roughly N50,000 to N57,000 monthly.
Deputy Commissioners, he said, receive about N6 million to N7 million and around N60,000 monthly.
Commissioners of Police, he alleged, receive about N7 million to N9 million in lump sums and roughly N90,000 to N100,000 monthly.
Earlier statements reported by the media contained different figures.
In 2025, PROF representatives told reporters that an ASP could receive around N1.5 million to N2 million and about N25,000 monthly, while an Inspector could receive around N1 million and about N20,000 monthly.
In another 2025 interview, Irowainu was quoted giving an ASP figure of about N1.5 million and N24,000 monthly, a DSP at N2 million and N25,000, an SP at N2.5 million and N30,000, and a CSP at N3 million and N50,000.
The apparent differences are themselves significant.
They demonstrate why the Government should publish a transparent breakdown of actual pension outcomes rather than leaving Nigerians to infer a national payment schedule from individual retirees.
Because under the CPS, pension is not simply a fixed amount attached automatically to police rank.
It is influenced by accumulated pension contributions, investment performance and the retirement option chosen.
The proper question is therefore not just:
“How much does a retired CSP earn?”
It is:
“What do comparable officers retiring at the same age, after similar years of service and under similar contribution histories receive, and why?”
That data should be public.
The Morale Argument Cannot Be Dismissed — But It Must Be Tested
Irowainu also made one of the most explosive claims in the dispute.
He argued that poor retirement prospects can undermine professional conduct among serving officers.
“These death pensions they are paying us have made them to involve in a lot of unprofessional act like extortion, intimidation, in order to get money for themselves,” he said.
He added:
“If you go to station now, you go to police officer today, they will not answer you. If you don’t give them money, they will not follow you.”
That is a serious allegation.
But it is still an allegation.
There is no basis for turning a pension grievance into a blanket finding that low retirement benefits cause police extortion.
Nigeria’s police misconduct problem has multiple causes, including supervision, corruption, working conditions, accountability, pay, operational pressures and institutional culture.
Still, the retirees’ claim points towards a question that should be investigated rather than dismissed.
Do serving officers who have watched retired colleagues struggle with inadequate pensions behave differently from officers who believe they have a secure retirement?
That can be tested through survey research, disciplinary records, exit interviews and properly designed institutional studies.
No government should rely on assumptions when the security consequences could be substantial.
The October 7 Escalation
The retirees say the protest will continue until the President acts.
Irowainu said the group planned to move on October 7 to the Ministry of Finance, the Police Service Commission and the United States Embassy.
The forum’s protest notice identifies a much wider network of proposed venues, including the Police Headquarters, National Assembly, PenCom headquarters, Ministry of Police Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, United Nations office, United States Embassy, French Embassy, British High Commission, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and the Police Service Commission.
The stated intention is peaceful protest.
The expansion to diplomatic missions and an international airport is significant.
It transforms a pension dispute inside Nigeria’s domestic policy system into a campaign designed to attract international visibility.
The Government therefore has two interests to balance.
It must protect the retirees’ right to peaceful protest.
It must also prevent an escalation that could disrupt critical infrastructure or create unnecessary diplomatic tension.
The Real Contest: Law or Administrative Fix?
President Tinubu’s administration now appears to have at least two possible routes.
The first is to sign the Police Pension Board legislation and begin the difficult process of creating a new pension structure.
The second is to keep the police inside the CPS but substantially improve what retirees receive through administrative, regulatory or fiscal interventions.
The Government may ultimately choose a combination.
But the public deserves to know.
The current ambiguity is producing the worst possible political outcome.
The retirees believe the law they fought for is being shelved.
PenCom believes the central problem can be solved without dismantling the CPS.
The police pension administrator says an increase is being worked on.
The Ministry of Police Affairs says a transition to a Defined Benefit arrangement requires further consideration.
And the President has not publicly explained, in the sources reviewed by Atlantic Post, what final position he intends to take on the legislation.
PenCom’s own public communications say President Tinubu has directed the commission’s Director-General to urgently resolve the longstanding police pension issue.
That makes the information gap even harder to explain.
What Nigeria Should Be Able to See
The dispute can be stripped of politics quickly.
Publish the status of the bill.
Publish the legal advice on whether and how the Government intends to implement it.
Publish the actuarial cost of the proposed 85 per cent pension floor.
Publish the projected annual liability under both the CPS and the proposed Police Pension Board.
Publish average retirement outcomes for police officers by rank, age, years of service and retirement cohort.
Publish the number of retired police officers receiving programmed withdrawals, annuities and en bloc payments.
Publish the number of deaths among retirees in the period claimed by PROF and the independently verified causes where legally permissible.
Publish the terms of reference of the presidential committee now examining police pensions.
And state clearly whether that committee is designing an alternative to the Police Pension Board Bill or preparing the ground for its implementation.
Those are not unreasonable demands.
They are the basic evidence required to settle a national argument.
The retirees have reduced their message to one sentence:
“The protest that commenced on 29th will be indefinite until the President give assent to our bill.”
But the deeper issue is no longer whether Nigeria can afford to hear them.
It is whether the Nigerian state will finally put enough evidence on the table for the public to understand what the police pension system costs, what it delivers, what the proposed replacement would cost and who ultimately carries the risk.
Until that happens, every new protest will produce another promise.
And every promise will leave the same unanswered question sitting in Abuja:
What, exactly, has happened to the bill Parliament passed?
Verification Notes
Verified: The National Assembly passed the Nigeria Police Force Pension Board legislation in 2025; the Senate completed concurrence in December 2025.
Verified: PROF says the bill was transmitted to President Tinubu on March 16, 2026, and the Ministry of Police Affairs was still discussing executive action on the matter on October 5, 2026.
Verified: PenCom’s position is that police dissatisfaction is driven principally by inadequate benefits and disparity with Armed Forces pensions, and it favours improving benefits rather than necessarily exiting the CPS.
Verified: NPF Pensions said on October 5 that a presidential committee was working on improving retirees’ take-home pay.
Not independently verified: PROF’s claim that more than 20 retirees died in six months because they lacked funds for medical care.
Not treated as an official payment schedule: The rank-by-rank pension figures supplied by the retirees. Publicly reported figures vary, consistent with the CPS being based on individual retirement accounts and payment arrangements.
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