Military Retirees Protest Unpaid Entitlements, Shut Down Finance Ministry

ABUJA- Activities at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja were suspended on Thursday by a few retired military soldiers due to their unpaid benefits.

The Federal Government was accused by the retirees of failing to provide them with a 20% to 28% pay increase between January and November of 2024.

They want their palliative payments from October 2023 to November 2024 to be paid, their pensions to be increased by N32,000, the Security Debarment Allowance to be paid in full, and the deductions from the pensions of medically boarded soldiers to be reimbursed.

To the protest site, they brought chairs, sleeping mats, and canopies.

Col. Innocent Azubuike (retd.), one of the group's founders, had bemoaned the predicament of military retirees, saying that their unpaid benefits had caused them immense suffering.

According to him, they were told that the payments could not be issued because of insufficient funds, even though they had been promised that their entitlements would be processed 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.”