Military retirees set to protest over unpaid entitlements

Despite receiving clearance for the cash, military retirees around Nigeria have voiced their dissatisfaction with the ongoing delay in receiving their benefits. 

To demand action from the Federal Ministry of Finance, the retirees, who have been waiting for their dues for 11 months, have organised a large-scale protest in Abuja on Thursday. 

According to PUNCH, one of the group's leaders, Col. Innocent Azubuike (retd.), also referred to as Nass, bemoaned the predicament of military pensioners, claiming that their underpaid benefits had caused them immense suffering. 

He claimed that they were told that the payments could not be paid because of a lack of cash-backing, even though they had been promised that their entitlements would be cleared in November.

Azubuike said, “We were told approval has been secured for the payment of our entitlements. The only thing remaining is cash-backing.

“We were told to exercise patience and assured that our long-unpaid entitlements would be settled in November. November is gone, and there is no indication of when this will happen because it’s a matter with the FMoF and not the Ministry of Defence.”

Azubuike gave an explanation for the protest's continuation, stating that the retirees had made the decision to take control of their own destiny this time.

He said, “We must take our fate into our hands; otherwise, we will continue to die off in misery and deprivation. We have paid our dues in patriotic service to this nation. We demand our pension rights. This nation is not too poor to pay us such little stipends.”

The retired colonel disclosed that the protest was already well underway.

Source