When the average police officer retires in Nigeria, many have little to fall back on and this has an influence in their delivery during active service. HAMZA SULE WURO BOKKI, managing director and chief executive officer of the NPF Pensions Limited, the pensions funds administrator (PFA) for most police personnel both serving and retired, spoke with a BusinessDay team led by BASHIR IBRAHIM HASSAN, GM, Northern Operations, on how the future of police officers is now being secured through a reinvigorated pension system.
As the chief executive of this organization, what is your vision for moving it forward?
My history with the industry is that of a pioneer in the industry. I was fortunate to be there when it started. I started another pension funds administrator (PFA) APT Pensions Ltd. So, having that experience, I came with a clear vision. Many of my colleagues scoffed at the idea of coming to a police organization. As an organization, it is widely misunderstood or misrepresented. When I came here my colleagues were trying to joke about what rank I was given – insinuating that I was coming into an organization where I will take command. But I came here with a purpose, very much aware that the police are the least educated organisation when it comes to pension, because they are so very, very busy with their daily routines that they hardly have time to consider pension. I was very lucky the police authorities surprisingly had appointed PwC Nigeria to do a feasibility study for them in order to advise whether it was feasible to comply with the federal government directive to remain under the contributory pension Scheme and then set up a PFA to address their areas of concern.
They had wanted to exit the CPS like the military but the federal government in its wisdom directed the police to please stay back and channel all their concerns and set up a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA). The expectation was so high in the police, but they had myriad problems, including low understanding of how the scheme works; but most importantly, they had the stigma of the previous police pensions scheme that was badly managed. So, we set out to make it right for the police, to improve their welfare through this pension scheme and, truly, they had these genuine problems. Police personnel are scattered in every nook and cranny of this country and they had accounts with 20 PFAs prior to our coming. These 20 PFAs were not accessible to them from everywhere and, unfortunately, we had it on authority from a retired IGP that an average policeman works in 11 places in every ten years of their service. And because they are unable to update their records, the PFA did not even know where to locate them. So it was difficult to locate them with the mandatory quarterly statements. You couldn’t locate them because you don’t know where they were; and the situation was not helped by the unreliable telephone services in many parts of the country — once you lose your phone you just go and get another SIM card and move on. So even the telephone numbers they had given at registration were mostly no longer accessible. Secondly, their contributions were not being credited correctly due to lack of update of ranks.
When you came into office and you met these many problems, what did you come up with to remedy the situation?
To start with, we got located in over 60 locations – in all police formations and commands – and deployed staff extensively. These 60 offices are overseen by six regional offices located in each of the geopolitical zones in the country with very senior officers with official cars and everything needed to effectively mobilize and move out to meet our clients. This arrangement brought immediate relief. But beyond that, we went out on sensitization drives to the formations and commands. When we came here, there were so many accounts that had zero balances. We have worked with the police pension office to try to address these issues and we have largely succeeded. Then we had to assist the next-of-kin of police officers with documentation, because generating letters of administration is cumbersome.
Our board made a recommendation for a Retiree Settlement Support Scheme (RSSS), under which we pay about 20 percent of our gross income as corporate social responsibility and pay N500 million to retirees every year. It has not solved all their problems, but it has given them some immediate relief. And then they’re looking forward to it now. Even those that retired earlier called us and said: “Can we get the money?” You will see a senior officer retiring with no savings. I am not derogating anyone. So, we suggested two things. One, permanent secretaries at federal level are treated as political appointees and they retire with their salaries; in the army, the senior officers retire with their salaries. And in the police, the highest rank you can earn is CP. So, anyone above CP, from AIG, to DIG to IG, they are political appointees. There is an FG circular that clarifies that they are on consolidated salary; not on any scale, which makes them political appointees. So, we said: “Why don’t we treat them as political appointees so that when they leave work, they continue to collect their salary for life?” Unfortunately for the police, the senior officers sometimes get their careers truncated. That’s why some of them don’t have any plans, because they are taken out before their date of retirement. I’m happy to inform you that the federal government has received the request from the Board. Police authorities are all united in following it up and I believe the office of the SGF is currently looking at the issue of 300 percent gratuity as additional benefit to all police personnel.
Could you tell us what are your major successes?
First, we have at least 270,000 police personnel as our clients today. Secondly, when we were licensed on the 20th of August 2014, we had zero assets under management until 31st December 2015 when we got our first assets. As at now, we have assets under management of N640billion. Out of this N640 billion, I’m also happy to report that N267 billion represents the investment income that we have made as profit for them. So, when you deduct N267 billion from N640 billion, the balance is their contribution. So, this PFA has been able to add value to the tune of N267 billion in about seven years of operations.
Tell us about how you completed this headquarters, a massive edifice
When we conceived the idea in 2015, many people said we were joking, wondering where we were going to get money to build an office when no PFA had contemplated an office. We set out an amount for every month and we religiously followed it even if it meant not paying some of our allowances. So we thank God we have the first custom built head office.
What are the challenges you faced in the discharge of your duties?
I’ll talk about the remaining ones. You can read from my discussion that we are still not satisfied with the take home pay of police officers. They have served this country diligently. They face a high level of risks. Many of them retire with injuries. Yet, they are still not adequately compensated when it comes to pension. Some of them retire without even houses. For as long as you do not do this two things, the pensions will remain in a critical state and they will remain almost as beggars in a country that they put their lives on the line to protect and make safer.
What future plans do you have?
Our hope, our plans is that every policeman that served Nigeria should get a commensurate pension that is not less than applies to any of their colleagues or peers in other public services. At least let them be brought at par with any other Nigerian senior citizen. Let them also feel recognized by their country. We recommend that the AIG rank and above be treated like their peers and go with their full salaries after retirement and the 300 percent gratuity. The other one is for us to enhance this RSSS as we make sure that instead of paying N500 million in a year, why can’t we pay N2 billion if we can afford it? That means the profit may not necessarily be the driving force for this motive. Even though it is a business, welfare drive should be in the forefront. Once we can afford it, I assure you that this company will continue improving the RSSS. It started from N400 million. We raised it to N500 million because we could afford it and we’ll continue to raise it as much as we make profits.
What legacy do you plan to leave behind?
Honestly, I don’t take this building as much because it is done. History will look at it. If you ask me to mention our achievements, I won’t mention this building. What I want to bequeath when I leave is that I want to build confidence in the person of the policeman out there on the street, by trying to make his life worthwhile so that when he retires and is tired, which is when he needs his country, the country will appreciate and reward him appropriately.
