Retired soldiers who protested at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja on Monday suspended their action following a meeting with ministry officials who assured them that their outstanding entitlements would be paid by Friday.
The protesters had blocked the entrance of the ministry’s gate with a canopy and chairs to demand their unpaid entitlements.
The protest comes days after serving police officers across various states also staged protests, asking for an exemption from the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The officers, who described the scheme as exploitative and inadequate, called on the government to revert to the defined benefits arrangement.
Addressing journalists on Monday after the meeting with the government’s officials, one of the protest leaders, who identified herself as Mama G, said they would wait until the end of the week before taking further action.
“They promised to pay us by Friday. We are giving them the benefit of the doubt. If we don’t get our alerts, we will reinforce massively here,” she said.
Mama G, a retired sergeant, lamented the amount paid to her after 20 years of service, describing it as inadequate.
“I am sad. After 20 years wasting my youthful age, they paid me N3.7m. I don’t know what I will use that kind of money for in this country at this time. Let the government help us collect our full rights and entitlements,” she said.
Another protester, retired Corporal Moses Eze, said the protest had been suspended.
He said the protest was to demand their legitimate entitlements and avoid resorting to desperate measures.
Eze added that over 700 personnel were yet to receive their payments from the first to fourth quarters, and they had been patient for a year.
He said, “The reason for this is that we don’t want to commit an atrocity in the country, we just want the Federal Government to do the needful, to pay us what belongs to us.
“We are not asking extra, we are asking what we know that is fully entitlement, that is why you see that you gathered here, we have a first, second, third quarters, which are yet to paint, and they assure us that from now until Friday, at worst Monday, that all the necessary entitlement will be paid.
“Failure to do so, coming back here, we are not going to take it lightly, we might not even come here, we might go to another length, which the government will not be happy with.
“We are retired professionals who can handle any type of gun. Let me say, first and second quarters are 400, third and fourth are 300, which is 700, and the Nigerian Army know fully well that they are with our money.”
He asked that the right thing be done.
Also speaking, retired Sergeant Abdul Rasheed Isiaka said many of them were discharged in 2023 with disengagement dates reading February 2024, but were only paid half their gratuities.
“We are demanding our full payment of gratuity now. There is also an SDA allowance and a parking allowance, which have not been paid. Our salaries were stopped just three months after terminal leave,” he said.
Isiaka noted that several letters had been written to the Defence Headquarters, the Ministry of Finance, and other relevant offices, warning that they would stage a protest if payments were not made by August 4, 2024.
Why we retired -Ex-soldiers
Explaining her reason for leaving the army, Mama G said it was due to corruption and a desire not to waste more of her life in the system.
“It’s not that I really wanted to leave, but because of the corruption and what they were doing to us. I had already wasted my youth in the system. I didn’t want to waste more time, so I just left,” she said.
Eze, on his part, said, “The reason I left the Army — I’ll say it again, the reason I left — is because of injustice. In 2015, I started building a house, and to this day, that house is still incomplete.
“As someone serving the Federal Government — and they always say we are the number one citizens — I couldn’t even finish a house of my own.
“I didn’t want to resort to crime, like snatching cars or harming people, just to survive. I wanted to earn a living through honest means. But the money they are supposed to pay me hasn’t been paid.
“Out of 35 years of service, I served 13 years before leaving. I still had 22 years left to serve. That’s why I left the system — because the injustice was too much.”
