Paramilitary Retirees Beg Tinubu, National Assembly to Exempt Them from Contributory Pension Scheme

Paramilitary retirees in Nigeria have appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to exempt them from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), alleging that the system has left many former officers struggling with poverty, ill health and premature death.

The retirees, who made the appeal in a statement titled “Save Our Souls: Paramilitary Retirees Are Dying,” called on the Federal Government to introduce a pension arrangement that would enable them to live decently after years of service to the country.

They claimed that some retired paramilitary officers who served for as long as 35 years receive monthly pensions ranging from N25,000 to N75,000, which they described as grossly inadequate to meet basic household needs.

The retirees urged Tinubu, the Senate President and other senators, as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and members of the Green Chamber, to urgently intervene in their plight.

According to the group, the current pension arrangement has subjected many former officers to severe financial hardship, leaving them and their families struggling to afford basic necessities.

They also alleged that depression, sickness and premature deaths had become increasingly common among paramilitary retirees facing financial difficulties.

The group argued that the continued inclusion of paramilitary personnel and police officers in the CPS, while some other security agencies were exempted, amounted to unequal treatment of workers who had served the country under hazardous conditions.

It recalled that the Federal Government exempted the military and certain intelligence agencies, including the State Security Service (SSS), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA), from the scheme in 2011.

However, the retirees said paramilitary personnel and police officers were not granted similar exemptions, a situation they described as unjust and deserving of urgent government attention.

The former officers noted that their years of service involved confronting criminals, securing Nigeria’s borders and protecting lives and property, insisting that their retirement benefits should reflect the sacrifices they made in the line of duty.

They maintained that officers who dedicated decades to national service should not be left in conditions that make it difficult for them to provide for themselves and their families after retirement.

The retirees therefore called for their exemption from the Contributory Pension Scheme and the adoption of a more sustainable pension arrangement capable of guaranteeing financial security and dignity in old age.

They urged the President and lawmakers to treat the matter as an urgent welfare issue, warning that continued hardship among retired personnel could further worsen their living conditions.

The appeal was issued under the hashtags #SaveParamilitaryRetirees, #ExemptUsFromCPS, #SaveOurSouls and #ParamilitaryLivesMatter, with the group appealing to the government to act before more retired officers suffer the consequences of inadequate pension benefits.