The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has assured protesting police retirees that the Senate would meet their demands.
He told the retirees, who had massed at the main gate of the National Assembly for weeks, to go home, rest assured that their request would be granted.
The police retirees had been protesting their retention in the Contributory Pension Scheme, a development they said had brought untold hardship to them and their dependents.
Akpabio, who received a delegation of the retirees in his office on Thursday evening, observed that the House of Representatives had already passed the bill removing them from the scheme.
According to him, the Senate would concur by also passing the bill on Tuesday, stressing that the concerns raised by the protesting retirees were genuine.
A statement released by Akpabio’s media assistant, Jackson Udom, on Thursday night quoted the Senate President as saying that the inclusion of the retirees in the pension scheme was not well thought out.
“The policy, from what you have told us, was not well thought out. But take it that you have to disperse from the gate. That problem, as far as the law is concerned, is over.
“On Tuesday next week, we will concur with what the House of Representatives has done and produce an act exiting you from the scheme.
“I know that President Bola Tinubu, being a listening president, would sign it into law. The scheme is certainly not good for security personnel.
“If the military, DSS, NIA and others had exited, I see no reason why the police should remain while those in the echelon of the service are out of it. You all fought insecurity together. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. We will ensure that the scheme is the same from the IG to the last constable.
“Sometimes our country is fantastic at copying policies and not thinking out the implications of their implementation. And if that had been done, many of you wouldn’t have died. We always compare oranges with apples,” Akpabio was quoted as having told the retirees.
Earlier leader of the retirees’ delegation, CSP Mannir Lawal Zaria, who was said to have spoken earlier, reportedly thanked Akpabio for granting them access to see him in his office.
He was said to have told the Senate President that his members were upbeat while pleading that their problems be addressed without further delay.
The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, who was said to be the president during the visit, was quoted as having expressed appreciation to Akpabio for showing instant interest in the plight of the retirees.
National Assembly sources confided in NewsNGR late Thursday night that the decision to address the grievances of the retirees was a self-preservation move.
The source, who craved anonymity for lack of mandate to make open comments, said the continued presence of the retirees at the main gate of the parliament had raised security concerns among lawmakers in the two chambers.
According to the source, the leadership of the National Assembly was made to realise that criminal elements could easily infiltrate the ranks of the protesting retirees and use them as cover to wreak havoc.
Considering the rising insecurity in the country, the National Assembly leadership was forced to address the grievances of the protesters who had shown no willingness to leave the main gate because their demands were not met.
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