Retired Nigerian soldiers stage protest over unpaid entitlements, give FG Friday deadline
Retired Nigerian soldiers have staged a protest to the Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja on Monday over unpaid entitlements, barricading the Ministry’s main entrance and demanding payments of their gratuity, Security Debarment Allowance, SDA, and other benefits.
The protest which commenced at about 7.a.m. left workers at the Ministry stranded for hours, being unable to access their offices.
The visibly angry protesters were seen with placards conveying different messages such as: “We are 1st and 2nd Quarter Retirees of NA 2003. We are living heroes and deserve to be recognized and treated right—not celebrated as fallen heroes when we are no more,”
Another placard read: “We the voluntary discharged soldiers of 2024 demand full payment of our benefits.”
One of the leaders of the protest, Corporal Umar Faruq (rtd), decried the Pension Board’s neglect of retirees who had given their best in service of their fatherland.
He exclaimed, “This is unacceptable. We gave our best years to the nation. Many of us are suffering while the system continues to deny us what is rightfully ours.”
All pleas by the Chairman of the Military Pensions Board (MPB), Air Vice Marshal Adamu, who came to the scene to pacify the retirees, fell on deaf ears, as the protesters insisted on concrete assurances regarding the payment of their entitlements.
The protest was only suspended after representatives of the protesters and the MPB Chairman met with officials of the Ministry who assured the ex-soldiers that their outstanding arrears would be paid by Friday.
While speaking with members of the press on Monday after the meeting, one of the protesters, retired Corporal Moses Eze, said the protest was a legitimate demand for their entitlements in order not to resort to other unpleasant means.
“The reason for this is that we don’t want to commit atrocity in the country. We just want the Federal Government to do the needful, to pay us what belongs to us.
“We are not asking extra, we are asking what we know is fully our entitlement. That is why you see us gathered here. We have first, second, third quarters, which are yet to be paid and they assured us that from now until Friday, all the necessary entitlements will be paid.
“Failure to do so, coming back here, we are not going to take it lightly. We might not even come here. We might go to another length which the government will not be happy with”, he said.
He added that a total of 700 retirees from the first to the fourth quarters were yet to be paid. “Let me say, first and second quarters are 400, third and fourth are 300, which is 700, and the Nigerian Army know fully well that they are with our money.”
Also speaking was retired Sergeant Abdul Rasheed Isiaka who said that many of them were discharged in 2023 with disengagement dates that read February 2024, and were only paid half their gratuities.
“We are demanding our full payment of gratuity now. There is also an SDA allowance and a parking allowance, which have not been paid. Our salaries were stopped just three months after terminal leave,” Isiaka said.
He further disclosed how they have written several letters to the Defence Headquarters, the Ministry of Finance, and other relevant offices, warning them of the current protest if their entitlements were not paid, but no significant response were gotten from the authorities.
Recall that police officers across various states of the Federation also staged a protest recently, requesting exemption from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), which they described as exploitative and inadequate, and therefore called on the government to revert to the defined benefits scheme.
