Aiming always to make life in retirement most comfortable for police officers, the Nigeria Police Force Pensions Limited (NPFPL) has once again enhanced its highly innovative Retirement Resettlement Support Scheme (RRSS) by 100 per cent.

This is the second time that the scheme, which is the payment of certain amount of money to retiring police officers as welfare support, one of the creative ways the NPF Pensions devised to make life more meaningful for policemen in retirement, will be enhanced since it was introduced in 2017.

With the new enhancement, retired police officers from the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) and below will get 100 per cent of whatever they are paid now.

It is a freebie, an innovation created by the management of the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to help retired police officers resettle while waiting for the commencement of the payment of their retirement benefits.

So, a CSP that was hitherto paid N350,000 will now receive N700,000; a Superintendent of Police (SP) will take home on retirement N600,000, a 100 per cent increase of the previous N300,000; a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) will now receive N400,000 up from N200,000 and an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) will smile home with N300,000, a 100 per cent hike of the previous N150,000. Inspectors that were hitherto paid N120,000 will now receive N250,000, which is even more than 100 per cent, while officers from the rank of Sergeant and below who were paid N100,000 under the Retirement Resettlement Support Scheme will now smile home will N200,000.

The RRSS is not part of the mandate of the NPF Pensions Limited. It is a freebie, an innovation created by the management of the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to help retired police officers resettle while waiting for the commencement of the payment of their retirement benefits. Till date, it remains the only PFA that is giving back to its clients in such manner.

Since its introduction in 2017, the scheme has gone a long way in enhancing the welfare of policemen in retirement and so far, over N2 billion has been paid out to more than 10,400 retirees.

For any other organization, the idea of a freebie to its clients would be a big deal. But for a company that is always striving for excellence, nothing short of the best is good enough.

And living up to its reputation of an organization that is always upping the ante in order to deliver maximum benefits to its clients, the NPFPL yet improved on what was already a benchmark in the industry by further raising the bar.

In 2018, the RRSS was enhanced for the senior officer cadre from the rank of Commissioner of Police and above. And since the NPF Pensions leadership believes in the ‘what is sauce for the goose should also be sauce for the gander’ axiom, it also considered and approved that starting from October 1, 2020, the payment of RRSS for officers from the cadre of CSP and below be reviewed upwards by 100 per cent.

So, the new upward review is the second time since the commencement of the scheme that it is being enhanced, in line with the philosophy of the management of the NPF Pensions that not even the axiomatic sky is their limits when it comes to the welfare of police retirees.

Conceived as a one-customer Pension Fund Administrator, the NPFPL was exclusively dedicated to serve the police with a vision “to be the benchmark in Pension Fund Administration in Nigeria.”

When it was established eight years ago, the idea was to have a PFA exclusively responsible for pension management of all police personnel, according to the Pension Reform Act (PRA 2014). Before then, policemen were scattered in all the other 20 PFAs.

The PFA since inception has worked hard to justify its license not just by meeting the benchmark expectation but actually exceeding it through creative innovations that make the welfare of police officers the centre of its gravity and many retired police officers affirm that the PFA has not only deliberately made their clients – policemen – their numero uno in terms of priority but indeed, their only priority.

Sources within the organization aver that the prioritization policy is deliberate in furtherance of the PFA’s stated mission, which is “to provide quality customer and financial advisory services to stakeholders and adopt investment strategies that would yield the best possible returns on their pension assets.”

Appreciative retired police officers are over the moon with the development.

Sources within the organization aver that the prioritization policy is deliberate in furtherance of the PFA’s stated mission, which is “to provide quality customer and financial advisory services to stakeholders and adopt investment strategies that would yield the best possible returns on their pension assets.”

Mr. Charles Effiong who retired in 2019 as a Superintendent of Police (SP) said the largesse came in handy.

“When we retired, we were not paid our retirement benefits immediately. We were told that the Federal Government was yet to release the accrued rights but the PFA came to our rescue with the RRSS funds that enabled me to relocate from Lagos where I was serving before retirement to Afaha Atai, my hometown in Akwa Ibom State. Without that money, that relocation would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible at the time.”

Effiong believes that things will even get better now that there is a 100 per cent upward review of the scheme.

For a retiring officer to be eligible for the RRSS, the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) must have been domiciled with the NPF Pensions for a minimum period of two years. Many police officers say that is a fair deal.

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Then, on January 16, I got a text from Mr. Chukwuma Ohaka, the Business Development Manager of NPF Pensions Limited. It was an obituary. Guess whose death was being announced? DCP Ibrahim Tarfa. I got the text at 4.07 pm, six hours after he had been buried. He was only 57 years.

Nobody has been able to explain what really happened. The grief is overwhelming. You needed to make Tarfa’s acquaintance to appreciate why.

I didn’t quite understand what it meant when uniformed men use the phrase, an officer and a gentleman, to describe one of their own until I met Tarfa, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) at a public function in Lagos.

Nobody has been able to explain what really happened. The grief is overwhelming. You needed to make Tarfa’s acquaintance to appreciate why.

The management of Nigeria Police Force Pensions Limited was in Lagos on its annual pre-retirement seminar to sensitise, educate and adequately prepare officers on the verge of retirement on what life is on the other side of the divide.

DCP Tarfa, a director of NPF Pensions Limited and the liaison between the police and their pension fund administrator (PFA) in his capacity as CP Pensions was part of the team that came from Abuja and the first to talk. That was on Monday February 3, 2020.

His message was pointed and firm, even as he spoke softly. He told the retirees to shed their lethargic garment and take the issue of pension serious because that makes the difference in life after retirement.

“A time will come when we will leave the comfort of our uniforms and offices for retirement, yet a lot of us don’t take retirement very serious,” he said.

“Many policemen tend not to give a thought to life after retirement when they are still in service. There is no preparation for the day which will surely come after either 35 years in service or on attainment of 60 years of age. The consequence is that life after retirement becomes a drudgery at best, or at worst a death sentence.”

But he insisted that retirement does not mean an end to active life. “Some people have found more meaning in life after retirement than when they were in active service,” he said, taking them on a guided tour of their rights, entitlements and obligations before and after retirement.

By the time he finished, gloomy faces apprehensive of life after retirement brightened up. Armed with information and power, they were ready, better equipped to face tomorrow.

When he sat down, I enquired who he was and a member of the NPF Pensions team simply replied: He is Mr. Pension of the Nigerian Police.

We instantly became friends. Meeting DCP Tarfa for the first time, you will go away with the feeling that you have known him all your life. Humble, self-effacing and unassuming, he will be the first to greet even those unworthy to untie the strap of his sandal.

DCP Tarfa was as an officer, a leader of men, who led by showing in himself such qualities as he desired to bring out in those under him. He was a gentleman par excellence, an epitome of virtue, honour, patriotism and subordination.

His selflessness was beyond compare. As the Deputy Commissioner of Police appointed director on October 27, 2017, to represent the Police Pension Office on the Board of NPF Pensions, Tarfa dedicated the last three years of his life to police welfare.

Staff of NPF Pensions unanimously acclaim that he added value to the PFA. Always eager to serve and help those in difficult situations, Tarfa had the uncanny ability to relate well with both the low and mighty.

As a management staff put it, “DCP Tarfa was very passionate for police welfare and was always ready to serve.”

He was reputed to have helped significantly in untying the accrued rights knot and was at the forefront in the resolution of the nominal rolls saga. He not only made sure that senior police officers did not have any pension issues, being, as it were, at their beck and call, widows and next of kin of fallen officers had his back.

In DCP Tarfa’s death, police lost a treasure and the country lost one of its best. He was an intellectual in uniform.

As at the time he died, he was a PhD research fellow at the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, where he also holds a Master of Science degree in Defence and Strategy. He also had a Masters degree in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

At 57, DCP Tarfa still had so much to offer the police and his country, Nigeria. In his death, the police lost a gem. Nigeria lost a treasured asset.

Before he enlisted into the Nigerian Police Force in 1990, he had a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Maiduguri.

Commissioned Cadet ASP in 1990, Tarfa became a DCP in 2017 having attended the junior command, intermediate and CSP-ACP promotion courses at the Police Staff College, Jos; high level management course at the United Nations Centre for Excellence at Vicenza, Italy and the corporate governance course (Kellogg), U.S.

His knowledge of the North was encyclopedic. Though a Bura by tribe – one of the little known minority ethnic nationalities in Hawul LGA of Borno State – Tarfa lived, died and was buried in Kaduna State. He worked in the Katsina, Taraba, Nasarawa Police Commands in various capacities as DPO, Area Commander and Police College Kaduna before coming to the Force Headquarters, Abuja where he was on the Inspector General of Police’s management team and served as the CP Pension in the Department of Finance and Administration, Force Headquarters.

When I needed to have a better understanding of the real issues in the North East, I consulted him. His analysis always contextualized the issues. It was always devoid of any sentiments because as he would always say, “I am involved.” He was a most detribalised Nigerian.

At 57, DCP Tarfa still had so much to offer the police and his country, Nigeria. In his death, the police lost a gem. Nigeria lost a treasured asset. May his soul rest in peace even as his memory remains a blessing not only to those who knew him but the country he loved and served with an unequalled passion.

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That is the worldview that drives the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) and for her clients, men and women of the Nigeria Police Force, that pragmatic philosophy only means one thing – good news.

Conceived as a one-customer Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), the NPFPL was exclusively dedicated to serve the police with a vision “to be the benchmark in Pension Fund Administration in Nigeria.”

When it was established six years ago, the idea was to have a PFA exclusively responsible for pension management of all police personnel, according to the Pension Reform Act (PRA 2014). Before then, policemen were scattered in all the other 20 PFAs.

The PFA since inception has worked hard to justify its license not just by meeting the benchmark expectation but actually exceeding it through creative innovations that make the welfare of police officers the centre of its gravity.

Many retired police officers concur that the PFA has not only deliberately made their clients – policemen – their numero uno in terms of priority but indeed, their only priority.

Sources within the organization aver that the prioritization policy is deliberate in furtherance of the PFA’s stated mission, which is “to provide quality customer and financial advisory services to stakeholders and adopt investment strategies that would yield the best possible returns on their pension assets.”

The PFA since inception has worked hard to justify its license not just by meeting the benchmark expectation but actually exceeding it through creative innovations that make the welfare of police officers the centre of its gravity.

Realizing this laudable mission in an industry as competitive as the pension industry especially by a new entrant entails financial creativity at its best. On this score, the PFA has excelled by going beyond what is considered usual in the industry.

Even their competitors in rival PFAs acknowledge that when it comes to the welfare of clients, the NPF Pensions seem to have an edge as they are always on top of their game.

A source within the organization who pleaded anonymity puts it thus: “For us, thinking outside the box is more than just a business cliché. As a one-customer PFA dealing exclusively with the police, we knew that the only way to deliver handsomely on our mandate is to approach our task in new, innovative ways. And the only way that can be done is to conceptualize the problem, which in our situation means a retiring police officer, differently.”

One of the creative ways the NPF Pensions devised to make life more meaningful for policemen in retirement is the introduction of the Retiree Resettlement Support Scheme (RRSS), which is the payment of certain amount of money to retiring police officers as welfare support.

The RRSS is not part of its mandate. In fact, till date, it remains the only PFA that is giving back to its clients.

Introduced in 2017, the scheme has gone a long way in enhancing the welfare of policemen in retirement. Our sources informed that so far, about N1.5 billion has been paid out to 10,400 retirees.

The RRSS is a freebie. For any other organization, the idea of a freebie to its clients would be a big deal. But for a company that is always striving for excellence, nothing short of the best is good enough.

And living up to its reputation of an organization that is always upping the ante in order to deliver maximum benefits to its clients, the NPFPL yet improved on what is already a benchmark in the industry by further raising the bar.

In 2018, the RRSS was further enhanced for the senior officer cadre from the rank of Commissioner of Police and above.

And since the NPF Pensions leadership believes in the ‘what is sauce for the goose should also be sauce for the gander axiom,’ it has also considered and approved that starting from October 1, 2020, the payment of RRSS for officers from the cadre of CSP and below be reviewed upwards by 100 per cent.

This gesture is remarkable and the beneficiaries are appreciative. Mr. Charles Effiong who retired in 2019 as a Superintendent of Police (SP) said the largesse came in handy.

Many retired police officers are grateful that in this pandemic era when most organizations are scaling back their expenses because of liquidity problems, NPF Pensions is doing the opposite.

“When we retired, we were not paid our retirement benefits immediately. We were told that the Federal Government was yet to release our accrued benefits but the PFA came to our rescue with the RRSS funds that enabled me to relocate from Lagos where I was serving before retirement to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State where I intend to settle.”

Effiong believes that things will even get better now that there is an upward review and a promise by the NPF Pensions of continuous enhancement of the scheme as the company’s income increases.

For a retiring officer to be eligible for the RRSS, the RSA account must have been domiciled with the NPF Pensions for a minimum period of two years. Many police officers say that is a fair deal.

“We have every reason to be with NPFPL for life,” enthused a serving police officer who pleaded anonymity.

“Why would any policeman not pitch tent with the NPF Pensions?” he queried and provided the justification for a stay: “Prior to its establishment, many policemen on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) were neither receiving statements on their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) nor had any communication with the PFAs, and, therefore, didn’t know what was happening to their accounts. All that is now history. Not only that, the PFA continues to reinvent itself by improving retirement benefits even when we least expect it, moreover, NPF Pensions is located in every Formation and Command and therefore, easily accessible.”

Many retired police officers are grateful that in this pandemic era when most organizations are scaling back their expenses because of liquidity problems, NPF Pensions is doing the opposite.

But even as good as things are now, the PFA is assuring their customers that the best is yet to come.

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