Esther Marcus, a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police from the Nigeria Police Force, has made waves online after sharing her shocking story of financial hardship following 35 years of service. In a viral video, Marcus, who claims to have joined the force before the age of 16, revealed how she was left with just N1.7 million as her gratuity after retiring in 2018. To make matters worse, her monthly pension amounts to a mere N40,000. For someone who devoted over three decades to a life of service.
Marcus didn’t hold back in expressing her frustrations over what she referred to as the “dirty contributory pension scheme” that has left her and countless other retired officers in financial ruin. In her words, “After serving for 35 years… I retired in 2018 and waited for over a year before I was given N1.7 million. Then, after another three months, I started receiving N40,000 monthly pension.” She further emphasized that this injustice wasn’t just her own experience, but the reality for every policeman and policewoman retiring under the same system. “That’s what we’ve been going through,” she added.
Despite the plight of retirees, Marcus claims that their desperate cries for help have been largely ignored by the government. She explained that for over 10 years, police retirees have been fighting for justice, yet their voices continue to fall on deaf ears. “They are aware of what we’re going through. They’ve held about three or four public hearings on this case,” Marcus said. “But when the Army was retiring, the DSS, and other paramilitary forces there was nothing like a public hearing.” The tone of her words makes it clear, the government is well aware of the issue but has chosen to do nothing.
Marcus highlighted the inequality within the system. She claimed that senior officers, including Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs), Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs), and the Inspector General (IG), have been conveniently exempted from this pension scheme. “The AIGs, DIGs, and IGs have exempted themselves from this dirty contributory pension scheme,” she said, a statement that shows the glaring disparity between the treatment of high-ranking officers and those lower down the chain, who are forced to endure the corrupt result of the pension scheme.
Marcus explicitly stated her words when discussing the dire situation many retired officers find themselves in. “How do you expect me to survive on N40,000?” she questioned. For officers with even lower ranks, the pension is even worse, with one-star officers receiving just N28,000 per month. Marcus couldn’t understand how anyone expected police officers to live on such meager sums, especially after a lifetime of service. “What offence did the police commit to deserve this ill-treatment?” she asked.
Her determination to seek justice is commendable. Marcus vowed that she and other retired officers would not stop advocating for their rights. “Let me tell you, we will never stop fighting because even those coming behind us… you cannot just see pure injustice and not fight against it,” she said. And she’s serious about it. The retired DSP even suggested a radical step: “What we are planning now is to go and occupy their National Assembly and call CNN to cover the whole programme.”
She also expressed deep concern about the impact of these financial struggles on the behaviour of police officers. Marcus believes that it’s unrealistic to expect officers to stop engaging in corrupt practices when the alternative is financial ruin after retirement. “You want the police, knowing fully well that when they retire, they are going into hell, you want them to stop corruption? They will continue collecting. They will continue extorting. They will continue enriching themselves by whatever means they can,” she said. And who could blame them? When faced with a future of poverty, we are in Nigeria, we are not so shocked.
Her story is a damning indictment of a system that rewards top officials while neglecting those who serve at the grassroots. It’s quite painful that in Nigeria, the gap between the haves and have-nots isn’t just a socioeconomic divide, it’s a very wide hole that swallows the dignity of those who can’t climb to the top, which is very shameful!
