Piqued by nonpayment of their entitlements, some retired military personnel on Thursday grounded activities at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja and shut down the facility.
In the wake of the protest, they brought sleeping mats, chairs and canopies to the protest ground to perpetuate their stay at the place until their demand is met.
The aggrieved retirees accused the Federal Government of not paying them a 20% to 28% salary increment from January to November 2024.
They are also demanding arrears of palliatives from October 2023 to November 2024, payment of an additional N32,000 to their pensions, bulk payment of Security Debarment Allowance as well as a refund of deductions made from the pensions of medically boarded soldiers.
One of the leaders of the group, Col. Innocent Azubuike (retd.) had expressed disgust at the plight of military pensioners.
According to him, their unpaid entitlements had caused untold hardship for the pensioners.
Azubuike expressed worries that despite assurances that their entitlements would be paid up to date in November, they were informed that the payments could not be made due to cash constraints.
“We were told approval has been secured for the payment of our entitlements. The only thing remaining is cash backing. We were told to exercise patience and assured that our long-unpaid entitlements would be settled in November. November is gone, and there is no indication of when this will happen because it’s a matter with the FMoF and not the Ministry of Defence,” he said.
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