House of Reps to Probe Fraud in Nigeria Police Force Pension Limited, but this is the reason why Police Retirees remain Unpaid.

House of Representatives has mandated its committees on Police Affairs and Pension to investigate the inability of the Nigeria Police Force Pension Limited to meet its obligations. The House on Tuesday resolved this following a motion moved by Ali Adeyemi on the floor of the House.

Adeyemi in his motion said the NPF Pension Limited which was incorporated in October 2013 is failing to meet its pension and gratuity obligations to recipients. He explained that over N305bn was moved to the police pensions fund in 2014, adding that retired pensioners are not getting their pensions despite the huge sum.

He said, ”Nigeria Police Pension Reforms which started with the incorporation and operation of the NPF Pension Limited in October 2013, was initiated to address deficiencies of the current Contributory Pension Scheme, peculiar to the Police Force”

“After incorporation of the NPF Pension Limited by PenCom in April 2014, the government directed the existing Pension Fund Administrators to move N305 billion Police Pension Assets to the NPF Pension Limited”

“Employers pension contributions of N15.8 billion, N16.6 billion, N16.6 billion and N19.7 billion were paid by the Federal Government from 2015 to 2019 respectively to the NPF Pension Limited as government contributions.”

“Many police retirees have started protesting to the police hierarchy about the reduction of their entitlements while others have since joined the wagon of pensioners who don’t receive their monthly pensions and gratuities in full and as at when due.”

“The retired officers who are being short-changed after their services to the nation may resort to taking advantage of the loopholes in the security architecture of the country, which they are aware of, to perpetrate mischief for pecuniary gains to feed their families.”

Though unconfirmed and unsubstantiated, Adeyemi also expressed concerns that “despite the PenCom regulatory supervision, there are various pending fraud cases instituted by the EFCC against officials of NPF Pension Limited.

The Committee has been mandated to submit their reports within 4weeks.

PensionNigeria Observation.

The main reason why Nigeria Police Force Pension Limited has been unable to pay police retirees is because of outstanding payment of accrued rights by the Federal Government. Currently, FG has only released accrued rights up to March 2019. The N305 billion transferred to NPF Pension Limited from other PFAs when NPF was incorporated and the N15.8 billion, N16.6 billion, N16.6 billion and N19.7 billion transferred to NPF by FG from 2015 to 2019 are all pension contributions. NPF PFA will only be able to pay a retiree after FG has transferred the retiree’s accrued right and NPF PFA has received the appropriate approval from National Pension Commission.

We await the results of the investigation by the House of Representatives.