Ex-servicemen Threaten To Block Highways Over Pension Arrears

Retired personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces have lamented non-payment of 45 years’ pension arrears, threatening to block all federal roads nationwide if the money is not paid to them.

The pensioners comprised over 700 ex-service men from all the zones of the country except the South East who served between 10 to 15 years during the warning protest in Ibadan.

The protesting retired personnel carried placards with various inscriptions such as, “We were used and dumped by the federal government”, “We are dying of hunger”,  “President Tinubu please save our soul”, “We are ten years and above civil war veterans”.

The national coordinator under the aegis of “The Able Voluntary Discharged Soldiers Of 10Years And Above, Less Than 15 Years”, Corporal Babawande Phillip, who spoke with newsmen said more than 100 of their members have died as a result of poverty while several members were currently physically challenged.

Philip lamented that their counterparts who fought for the Biafran Army have since been paid by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, describing the situation as ‘unfair’

“For the past 44 to 45 years, we have been deprived of our pension rights. In 2015 we did a capture in Abuja wherein every one of us was issued with a genuine pensioners form, we all have those copies with us ,since 2015, we have been waiting for this to really come up.

“The painful aspect of this is that the Biafran soldiers that we went to fight with have been paid their own pension some years back. How did that come about , we that went to fight with them are not paid. This is very unfair.

“Majority of us are dead today because of the abject poverty they have thrown us into. Among us here are some people that are not able.’’