Emeka Okoroanyanwu
Military pensioners under the aegis of Ex-Servicemen and Families Welfare Association of Nigeria, Lagos Zone has pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency intervene in the payment of their pensions arrears before things get out of hand.
The military pensioners who staged a protest at Ikeja last week reeled out some of their grievances to The Nigerian Xpress newspaper while urging the President to look into their grievances with compassion.
According to the Director of Communications, Lagos State Liaison of the ex-servicemen, Army Warrant Officer, AWO [rtd] Peter Ogwuni, in a petition addressed to President Buhari, a copy of which was made available to The Nigerian Xpress newspaper, the retired soldiers lamented the shabby administration of Next of Kin’s benefits by the military, non-payment of 20.37 % increment balance of their pension, non-payment of the harmonisation of consolidated salaries and pensions for the armed forces as approved by the president and jettison of the plan to collapse or the unification of veterans association in Nigeria.
‘Now that this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day has been successfully commemorated, it would be a grave disservice to the nation and a form of disloyalty to the government if we fail to bring to the fore and to the clear knowledge of the President and the entire nation that agencies of government which despite their dispositions of trust has continued to sabotage the good intentions of government” the petition reads.
The ex-servicemen through the petition also lamented the stoppage of salary, delay and batch payment of gratuities to retiring officers and personnel of the Armed Forces at Resettlement Centre, Oshodi.
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“As shameful, as it may sound, this is the first time this shocking dereliction would take place. Trainees of course 1/2018 at the Armed forces Resettlement Centre Oshodi had their salaries stopped by the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force based on their Running out Dates while waiting for their gratuities.
“ For so long, they waited without salaries and without their gratuities! When the gratuities started coming, Military Pensions Board, MPB started issuing the cheques in arbitrary batches! These retiring servicemen and women were turned to beggars – no food, no school fees for children, no cares! It is humbly recommended that henceforth the glorious practice whereby gratuity cheques were handed over to trainees on their passing out days should be re-enacted.
“The six months spent in the training is enough to calculate their gratuities and issue their cheques. But stopping their salaries, for so long, some up to one year before gratuities is blackmailing government of the day! Does it mean government now releases gratuity funds to MPB in batches, thereby subjecting retirees untold hardship even when salaries would have been stopped” he asked rhetorically?
On the payment of benefits to Next of Kins, NOK, he wondered why a newspaper publication will be made for only cosmetic purposes but does not translate to actual disbursement of funds to the deserving NOK.
“On 12 October 2011, a newspaper [not The Nigerian Xpress] published names of fallen heroes whose NOKs were invited to go to Abuja for documentation within one week.It is not fair to do a newspaper publication which only serves a cosmetic purpose but does not translate to actual disbursement of funds to the deserving NOK. We beg the Presidency to counsel the Ministry of Defense, MOD to discontinue giving one-week deadline because a debtor is not supposed to give a deadline to the creditor for delivering their entitlements to them.”
Why should NOK be given one week to complete documentation for claiming their entitlements? That is not fair.We know that most NOKs are not familiar with Abuja. So how does the young daughter of a private soldier know how to process the papers or travel to Abuja? It is unfair and inhuman to expect Next of Kins to process such numerous documents within one week and then return home to await the actual benefits to be ready. Administration of NOK benefits should be re-vitalised” the petition read.
The petition also urged the president to look into the haphazard treatment of veterans during verifications which robs them of human dignity.
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“During pension verifications, aged and weak military veterans are subjected to inhuman treatment by young officers and men. No appropriate sheds are provided. Old men are being seen rolled in carts, trucks, wheelbarrows to verification centres. During rains or sunshine, they are left in open spaces or fields from early morning hours till late evening. They are rudely ordered to hire chair at Ikeja to sit on. Meanwhile, it is open knowledge that these young officers and soldiers who are detailed for verifications are paid entitlements of Duty Tour Allowances. Why does the military pension board not arrange adequate and modest sitting and tenting at verification centres?” the petition asked.
He, however, concluded that the problems enumerated in this letter were inherited from past maladministration and accentuated by the military hierarchy of the past.
“It is our conviction that the problems enumerated in this letter were inherited from past maladministration and accentuated by the military hierarchy of the past. In case of the prolongation of old problems and a new manifestation of aberrations punitive and injurious to veterans and NOK of fallen heroes, we blame enemies of the state and enemies of President Buhari who are bent on sabotaging his government’s good intentions”