Retired military officers protest in Abuja over ‘unpaid allowances’

Retired members of the Nigerian armed forces (REMENAF) and the coalition of concerned military veterans (CCV), on Monday, stormed the ministry of defence in Abuja to protest over “unpaid allowances”.

The protesters blocked access to the ministry, which is located at Olusegun Obasanjo way in the federal capital territory (FCT).

On one of the banners displayed by the protesters was written ‘Review the wide disparity in pay and pension across the ranks of serving and retired personnel’.

Among other demands by the retired military officers is for the government to direct the immediate payment of pensions to Nigerian civil war veterans verified in the 2015 pension payroll.

Meanwhile, the demonstration is not the first of its kind in recent months.

In January, the retired officers had stormed the ministries of finance and defence, as well as the national assembly over “unpaid allowances”.

Speaking on the protest, Roy Okhidievbie, the national secretary of the coalition, said the demonstration was to demand the payment of their “security debarment allowance” owed to them by the federal government.

“We have had meetings with the defence minister, [Bashir] Magashi, but he appears to be headstrong, heartless, and unperturbed concerning the grievances of retired military officers, as he never paid nor showed any interest or concern to pay these allowances, especially the security debarment allowance,” he said.

“Interestingly, the President Buhari-led regime has approved the payment of this allowance, but Magashi has refused to make disbursements.”

On his part, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, the spokesperson of the military veterans, said the demonstrators included wives and children of slain soldiers.

“We are here, alongside our wives and children, and the widows of late military personnel and veterans who died in service, some of whom died fighting Boko Haram terrorists,” he said.