On Monday, February 3, the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Pensions Limited led by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Hamza Sule Wuro Bokki, converged in Lagos for a pre-retirement seminar for retiring police officers. It is the first in a nation-wide exercise that will be carried out in all the six regions of the country.
Dr. Bokki, the pioneer MD/CEO of the NPF Pensions Limited, sat down with TheNiche Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, IKECHUKWU AMAECHI, after the seminar to talk about the peculiar challenges of the PFA and police retirees.
The NPF Pensions Limited just finished a pre-retirement seminar for retiring police officers. What is it all about?
We are here in Lagos for a pre-retirement seminar and we are going round the country, to the six regions. The essence of the exercise is to prepare police officers that are due to retire this year 2020. We interact with them. We tell them their rights, their entitlements and their obligations.
What do you mean when you say obligations?
Obligations in the sense that there are certain documents that they have to fill because there are some documentations to make which they have to do themselves. The Data Recapture Exercise (DRE) is ongoing, the PENCOM verification has opened, and we use the exercise to inform them of what to expect from us – the NPF Pensions Limited, what to expect from PENCOM and the Federal Government.
So, what should they expect from you on retirement?
What we have promised them is that as soon as we receive their accrued rights, we will pay them promptly. We are also paying them N400 million retiree support this year just like in previous years. This is money that we give to them free to help them settle down immediately after retirement.
What we expect from the Federal Government is the release of their accrued rights and as soon as they are released, we will pay the retirees promptly as I have said.
So, we are here to take them through all the documentations that they need to do, prepare them and to encourage them to come forward and talk to us. Some of them have numerous issues, some are complaining of low balances in their accounts, some are complaining that they have not yet finished with the DRE. All these we will facilitate for them, and we will help them so that they will have a smooth retirement and exit from the force.
Where is the N400 million retiree support fund coming from?
It is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) scheme that NPF Pensions Limited has instituted. So, it is coming from our own internal funds. From the income we make, we expense N400 million and give it free to police officers. No other PFA is doing that and this is because we have a unique constituency. Most of the police officers live in the barracks and if there is any delay in the payment of accrued rights, they go into distress as soon as they leave service.
So, we give them this little money to help them before the Federal Government releases their accrued rights and ultimate payment of pension.
You have been the MD/CEO of NPF Pensions Limited now for six years. Why was it necessary to set up a separate PFA exclusive for the police?
Policemen were before now scattered in all the 20 Pension Fund Administration companies and the police authorities requested that they should be exempted from the scheme just like the army. But the Federal Government in its wisdom said no, insisting that the police institution was so big that it was not in the best interest of the country to exit the contributory pension scheme. But Federal Government agreed to allow them to set up their own PFA to settle your complaints and grievances.
So, basically, this is a PFA that is meant to address all the pension issues of the police and since our establishment, we have addressed most of the issues. Prior to our coming, even statements of account was a problem to police officers. They were not receiving statements of account, they never had any communications with the PFAs, and they didn’t know what was happening to their accounts. But when we came on board, we put them through, we got in contact with them, we located wherever a policeman is. We actually have offices in all the 56 formations and commands. We also work through the police pension offices, we have pension desk officers, and we have six regional offices. So, we have taken the services down to the policemen so that any issue that they have can instantly be addressed. And our 56 offices plus six regional offices, that is 62 offices, are online, real time. So, whatever we can do at the head office, our representatives can do on the field.
So, this has eased access to pension information, it has eased access to documentation and the awareness has increased. You saw when I asked if they had visited any of our offices and whether they had interacted with our officers, apparently, they have. So, we have taken the services to them, we have given them whatever they need at their point of location.
What is the nature of this accrued rights? What is it all about?
Today, when a policeman is paid, 7.5 per cent is deducted from his salary and 7.5 per cent is contributed. This is paid monthly. The accrued rights is the service they rendered to the Federal Government from the time they enrolled in 2004 when the contributory pension scheme took effect. That is what the Federal Government owes them. And it is only payable when the officer serves notice of retirement. But the amount is huge and the Federal Government does not have the liquidity to pay at once.
So, accrued rights is what the government owes them and it is paid in instalments every year. Like those that are retiring this year have served notice to the Federal Government and the government will be paying. And unless that is received, we cannot pay the portion that is with us. The account has to be consolidated.
So, the pension is made up of the accrued rights and the contributions?
Yes! The contributions are with us and we give them a statement every month. They know what is in their account. But it is when they retire that they see their accrued rights paid by the Federal Government. So, when you put the two together, it constitutes the basket of their pension.
In the six years you have been at the helm of affairs of the NPF Pensions Limited, what major issues have retirees been complaining of? What are those peculiar challenges that they face?
I will speak for the police because I have been with them for six years and I have shared their joys and pains. The main issue now is the arrears of accrued rights. Unless we get their accrued rights, they are not paid. We have arrears, we are waiting for payment. Secondly, the pension paid to police officers is low compared to other services. And why is that? It is because, historically, their salaries have been low. And since pension is a function of contribution, it has to be so. They have been complaining and we have really been advocating that in order to address that, can the Federal Government please pay them a separate gratuity for the services they have rendered to this country so that they can be brought at par with their other colleagues and peers in the public service of the federation? That matter is pending before the Federal Government.
The police authorities are really in support of that move and you can see that the police officers at the seminar are agitating that they need commensurate pension with their colleagues that have served in other departments and ministries of the Federal Government.
So, these are the two main issues. The others are mostly administrative and that is what we are here for.
You will agree with me that pension may not solve all the problems of a retired policeman. How do you prepare them for retirement other than educating them on the pension protocols?
Pension is an alternative income. You have been used to collecting salary at the end of the month all your working life. Pension is trying to replicate that for you. And the intention is to give the police retiree at least 50 per cent of his or her last pay as pension. And that is what we are saying that they are not receiving that much. Once you get 50 per cent, that is pension but when you are working, one should be saving, one should be planning to save.
We have been trying to prepare the police to say, retirement is real, start early to prepare for it. At least five years, ten years before retirement, you should start planning. Where do you plan to live after retirement? What are you going to do in retirement? You cannot just go and sit down doing nothing because after retirement, you are still useful to your country, you are still useful to your community. You can engage in a lot of lawful things in retirement. You can engage in farming, in training, in consultancy services, whatever you want to do.
So, we have been trying to let them understand that retirement is real, and they should prepare and make the errors, the learning curve, while they are still in service, so that when they finish service they start their business and most of them are listening now.
