ADADUpdating your news feed...
NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.
Loading banners
Loading banners...
Military veterans on Tuesday blocked the entrance to the Military Pensions Board office in Kubwa, Abuja, over concerns about the formula adopted for adjusting their pensions.
The veterans who barricaded the entrance with canopies and chairs as early as 8.00am are protesting over alleged irregularities in the payment of pensions approved by President Bola Tinubu.
Armed soldiers, however, prevented protesters from accessing the premises.
The protest comes weeks after military retirees protested at the Ministry of Defence in September, demanding an increase in their pensions following salary adjustments for serving military personnel.
The Coordinator of the Veterans Association of Nigeria, Lt Col Innocent Azubike, accused the board of adopting a pension adjustment formula that allegedly short-changed some retirees.
Azubike said the protest followed growing disaffection among veterans over the implementation of consequential adjustments to their pensions.
“In the lower categories of your rank, because of the lesser number of years of service, they say, ‘This 80% the president approved for you; you cannot get it. You can only get 40.’ And they said, ‘This one that put 35 years, you will not get that 80%. We’ve only given 90%. This one is obnoxious and very provocative. We haven’t seen it before. We raised issues, and they were trying to put up some defence,” he said.
“I can tell you that over 90 per cent of military veterans and retirees are very angry, but these guys are not moved. Now, this is one aspect of the short payment. The other aspect of the short payment is that even the criteria they claimed to have used were not uniform. Out of every 10 people, maybe four or five were done on that criteria. Others have been paid far less than they were entitled to. There has been so much anger and bitterness within the community,” Azubuike noted.
The veterans’ concerns centre on the formula used to calculate the adjustments, which they believe has failed to adequately reflect the salary increases granted to serving military personnel. (Channels)
