Published 27th Oct, 2024

By Olayide Soaga

Ahmadu Zarumai, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), has resorted to seeking financial help and begging from his friends one year and five months after his retirement because the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has refused to pay him his retirement settlements.

Zarumai’s patriotism and love for service motivated him to enlist in the NPF. On May 1, 1988, his dream came true as he took his oath of office and became a police officer.

May 1, 2023, marked Zarumai’s 35 years in service and, according to the laws guiding civil servants, it was time for him to retire. He embraced retirement with open arms. Alongside his colleagues who were of retirement age, he bade the NPF goodbye.

From that moment, he began to look forward to receiving his retirement settlements. It has been a year and five months since then and the retired CSP has yet to receive his settlements.

“I started serving on May 1, 1988, and retired on May 1, 2023, after serving for 35 years. My retirement settlements should have been paid before now, but I have not received anything from the Nigeria Police Force. Some retirees of the NPF would spend 14 months before receiving their settlements, but mine is almost a year and six months,” Zarumai told FIJ on Friday.

He added that he had no idea how much he was entitled to as retirement settlements as a retired CSP and retirees would only know this when the NPF summons them for payment.

Zarumai is not the only retired police officer from his set who has not received settlements from the NPF. He told FIJ that the NPF has kept many of them in the dark, and whenever they ask for an update on the payment, the NPF reassures them by promising to pay them “very soon”.

He told FIJ that the brunt of the economic hardship in Nigeria was tough on the retirees as they have no additional source of income and their challenges have become the only topic of discourse whenever they have conversations.

“People are dying because there is no food. How can one spend over a year without receiving a salary and without any additional source of income? Some of my coursemates have not gotten theirs either. Nobody from my set has told me that they’ve collected theirs,” the retired CSP lamented.

“They usually call me to complain and tell me about how they are struggling to survive and the challenges they are facing. Whenever we speak on the phone, we speak about the settlements and our challenges.”

While speaking to FIJ about how he struggles to make ends meet in this period of economic hardship and no salary or retirement settlements to fall back on, Zarumai said he has resorted to begging.

“I now beg from my friends. I beg them to help me financially. I struggled for a while after I retired. I farmed for a while, but the proceeds have since finished and I am now left with nothing. The NPF also refused to give us the payment we should have collected while moving out of the barracks. They only handpicked some people and left the rest of us,” he added.

FIJ sent Muyiwa Adejobi, the NPF public relations officer, a message on Friday, but he has yet to respond at press time.

Many retirees continue to face the challenge of not receiving their retirement settlements or pensions from their employers after retirement.

In June, FIJ reported the story of Justus Obasi, a resident of Anambra State, who spent seven years asking the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to pay his deceased mother’s entitlements.

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