The Senate has passed for a second reading a Bill that seeks to remove police retirees from the Contributory Pension Scheme under the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and place them at par with their counterparts in sister security agencies.

The Bill seeks among others to establish the Nigeria Police Pensions Board to correct the inequality in the pension benefits paid to retirees of the Force and their counterparts in other security agencies.

The Bill, when passed for a third reading and assented to by the President will remove the police from the Contributory Pensions Scheme domiciled with the National Pension Commission (PenCom).

Leading the debate on the bill on the floor of the Senate in Abuja on On Thursday, July 4, the sponsor, PDP Senator representing Adamawa-South, Binos Yaroe, argued that while the police were saddled with the onerous task of crime detection, prevention, prosecution of suspects and other security duties, its retirees received peanuts as pension benefits, compared to their counterparts in sister security agencies.

Yaroe said, “The resultant inclusion and continuous stay of the NPF in the PENCOM has placed them on the wrong end of the post-service emolument life, even though the Nigeria Police is saddled with the responsibility of not only protecting the lives and property of the citizenry but detecting crimes”

He said that the primary objective of the Bill was to ensure equality and justice in the payment of pension benefits to police retirees by bringing them under a police pension’s board.

In their contributions, other senators supported the Bill and approved that it be read a second time.