AfriPulse
S cores of retired soldiers who voluntarily left the Nigerian Army in 2024 shut down the main entrance to the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance on Monday to demand their unpaid entitlements.
The protesters, who gathered in the nation’s capital from different states—Sokoto, Kano, Delta, Abia, Ogun, Plateau, among others—began their agitation around 10:15 a.m. and locked some ministry staff members inside.
Our correspondent, who monitored the demonstration, witnessed a heavy security presence from the military, police, and plain-clothed operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), who were there to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
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Daily Trust reports that retired security personnel from both the police and the army have staged protests more than three times within seven months under the current administration to press for their demands in the nation’s capital.
NIGERIA DAILY: Why Exclusive Breastfeeding Rate Still Low In Nigeria Shun desperate politicians, Otuaro warns ex-N/Delta agitators Recently, retired police officers shut down the Force Headquarters in Abuja after they had taken their grievances to the National Assembly over what they described as the “killing of the Contributory Pension Scheme,” while demanding their immediate exit from it.
The former police officers’ protest also took place across the 36 states of the federation. This development was described by critical stakeholders in the security sector as “dangerous and a morale killer” for serving police officers in the country.
After the protest, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, admitted that the poor state of retirees, particularly those under the Contributory Pension Scheme, was already affecting the morale of serving officers.
Protesters’ demands
The protesters’ demands were summarized into five categories: security debarment allowance, gratuity, insurance, packing allowance, and four months’ withheld salaries.
Daily Trust understands that the Defence Headquarters handles the Security Debarment Allowance, which is paid to ex-servicemen to discourage them from using their training against the state.
Similarly, the Military Pension Board handles the gratuity for former officers and soldiers of the three services: the Army, Navy, and Nigerian Air Force (NAF).
This newspaper also understands that the Nigerian Army authorities are supposed to resolve the issues concerning withheld salaries, insurance, and the packing allowance.
Retired army personnel narrate ordeal
Speaking to Daily Trust on the sidelines of the protest, one of the protest leaders, retired Staff Sergeant Simon Ipwu, listed their demands as: security debarment allowance, insurance, packing allowance, gratuity, and their four months’ withheld salaries.
Ipwu said, “We’re here because we haven’t been paid the money we’re supposed to be paid. We wrote for voluntary disengagement because of the mischief and the army’s attitude towards our work. There are a lot of issues.
“When we left the job, they weren’t comfortable with our leaving, so they stopped our salaries for four months. After that, they said we were due for gratuity, but they didn’t give us the money they were supposed to.
“We wrote different letters to various offices, including the Army, Defence, Finance, DSS, and the police. We agreed with them that we would give them a chance for a last two weeks.
“We gave them that chance. We thought that by now they might have responded, but they still haven’t. Right now, our Security Debarment Allowance hasn’t been paid, our pension and gratuity were short-paid, our four months’ salaries were cut and have not been paid, and our insurance hasn’t been paid.”
Eze Moses, a retired corporal, said the way they are being treated is dangerous for the country’s security, adding that corruption in public offices, particularly in the army, is making things complicated daily.
The retired soldier disclosed that about 700 of them exited the army last year because of low morale and entrenched injustice, adding that inequality and unfairness have been entrenched in the organization. He said 400 of them left in the first and second quarters, while 300 left in the third quarter.
“The reason we are doing what we are doing is that we don’t want to commit an atrocity in the country. We just want the federal government to do the needful and pay us what belongs to us. We are not asking for extra; we are asking for what we are fully entitled to, and that is why you see us gathered here.
“We have first, second, and third quarters yet to be paid, and they assure us that from now until Friday, or at worst Monday, all the necessary entitlements will be paid. If they fail to do so, we’re coming back here.
“We are not going to take it lightly. We might not even come here; we might go to another length, and the government will not be happy. We are retired professionals; we are professionals who can handle any type of gun.
“If there are about four to five hundred retired personnel, we know that is a disaster. Let me say, the first and second quarters are 400, and the third and fourth are 300, which is 700. The Nigerian Army knows fully that they are with our money.
“When we discussed with them inside, they did not deny it; they all accepted it. That’s why they said it is true and asked us to be patient, which we said we have been for a year, and which we will not do again.
“Let the right thing be done before we take any action.”
Similarly, a retired female sergeant who gave her name as Mama Gee described her 20 years in service as a waste, adding that government officials have promised to pay them by Friday.
“They promised to pay us by Friday. We are giving them the benefit of the doubt. After then, if we don’t get our alerts, we will reinforce massively here. I’m a sergeant; I retired after 20 years of service. I am sad that after 20 years of wasting my youthful age, they paid me N3.7 million. My youth was just wasted like that.
“I don’t know what I will use that type of money to do in this country, in these times. I said that the government should look at it for us; they should help us so that we can collect all our rights and entitlements. That’s what we are asking for; let them give us our rights, that’s all,” she said.
Officials’ responses
When contacted last night, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Appolonia Anele, told our correspondent in a telephone interview that the Group Life Assurance is usually paid to the family members of deceased soldiers through the Defence Headquarters.
Commenting on the packing allowance and the withheld salaries, Anele explained that the finance department of the Nigerian Army is already working on the payment, saying the affected ex-soldiers would get their entitlements soon.
Calls to the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General Tukur Gusau, to get reactions to the issues on security debarment allowance were not answered as of the time this report was filed last night.
However, the Military Pension Board, through its spokesman, Squadron Leader Aliyu Mohammed, explained that the only thing the MPB handles is gratuity, and such has since been settled by the present Chairman of the Board.
Expert links soldiers’ neglect to corruption
Meanwhile, a security expert and retired Major in the army, Bashir Galma, attributed the neglect to the growing corruption in the country, saying some people are sitting on the allowances.
He said there is a need to move away from the presidential system of government in order to decongest some bottlenecks associated with the bureaucratic system.
Galma added, “There is no need for the government and the governed to pay lip service to what is called Remembrance Day. We come out and do a ceremony and return to our offices, and all the people in the services and those retired are not satisfied.”
Source: DailyTrust | Continue to Full Story…
