Ex-servicemen protest non-payment of pension arrears

As Nigeria celebrates  the 2014 Armed Forces Remembrance Day, members of the Ex-servicemen Welfare Association, on Wednesday, took to the streets in Abuja, to protest the immediate payment of their 53 per cent pension increment.

The protesters, who carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “Enough is enough,” “Pay us our arrears now” and “Enough of unfulfilled promises,” assembled within the precincts of the Ministry of Finance Headquarters.

The ex-servicemen, comprising mainly retired officers and men of the Nigerian Army, expressed disappointment that the Armed Forces Remembrance Day was celebrated annually without a thought for retired soldiers and members of the families of those who had died in action.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Capt. Chukwudi Roberts (rtd.), said the association was demanding the immediate payment of the 53 per cent pension increment arrears.

They also demanded that their pension increment and arrears be immediately harmonised based on the Armed Forces Salary Structure 2010 and 2011.

Roberts said, “This should be accommodated in the 2014 budget. We also demand that the period of implementation has to be communicated to the military pensions through the appropriate channel as soon as the appropriation bill is signed into law.

“We also demand that the National Assembly invokes Section 88 of the Constitution with a view to reversing the injustice being done to the military pensioners in the country.

“This should be completed soonest with the active participation of all stakeholders among the military pensioners.”

The association equally asked that they and the surviving immediate family members of their fallen colleagues be included in the National Health Insurance Scheme to help them cater for their health challenges.

Meanwhile, two soldiers on Wednesday in Abeokuta assaulted the Ogun State correspondent of the Leadership newspaper, Mr. Kunle Olayeni. They also damaged his car.

The Leadership correspondent was brutalised by the soldiers.

The soldiers who tore the journalist’s  shirt also damaged his Honda Accord car at the state Secretariat, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Journalists had gone to cover the special parade/laying of wreath by Governor Ibikunle Amosun to mark the 2014 edition of Armed Forces Remembrance Day and were on their way out of the venue of the event when the incident occurred.

The case was subsequently reported at the Ibara Divisional Police Headquarters, Abeokuta.

Efforts to get the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Adamu Ngulde’s comment on the incident proved abortive.

Ngulde did not pick calls made to his phone.

Also, the Chairman of the Cross River State chapter of Nigerian Legion, Lt. Col. Timothy Oshie (retd.) has pleaded with the Federal Government to improve on the welfare of ex-servicemen through prompt payment of their allowances.

Oshie, who spoke in Calabar on Wednesday during the Remembrance Day celebration, said the call was necessary to reduce the suffering of the retired personnel.

He also said that it was important to remember the heroes who fought for the unity of the country.

“But we are appealing to the Federal Government to look into the issue of welfare of retired officers of the armed forces. The pension and arrears are not paid as and when due,” he said.

However, Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Joe Aikhomu, said that Nigeria’s fallen heroes were not forgotten.

In Osogbo, the Osun State Governor, Mr.  Rauf Aregbesola,  called on the Federal Government to come up with a programme of  reintegrating the ex-servicemen into the civil society.”

Speaking on Wednesday  at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day  ceremony in the city, the governor said the retirement from the military  should not be the beginning of the erosion of the human dignity of the officers, adding that the families of the departed officers must not be left in the lurch.

He also urged the discharged officers to make sure that their conduct in retirement did not undermine military honour and integrity.

Aregbesola said, “ Let   me mention here again that the Federal Government needs to come up with an effective system that will ensure the successful rehabilitation and eventual reintegration of discharged members of the armed forces into the civil society.”

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson at the similar ceremony in Yenagoa, chided some politicians who were busy fanning the embers of disunity by predicting that Nigeria would break up in 2015. He said the country would not disintegrate.

Copyright PUNCH.