Retired Nigerian Military Personnel To Protest At Finance Ministry Over Unpaid Allowances

Some retired Nigerian military personnel are set to stage a protest.

The retired soldiers have set aside Monday to picket the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, over their Security Debarment Allowances.

This is contained in the letter written to the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed to notify her of their plans.

The ex-service men in a letter signed by its spokesman, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, accused the ministry of failing to release the fund for the payment of their allowance despite the president’s approval.

The letter that acknowledged stamps of both the permanent secretary as well as that of the office of the minister was titled, “Re: Payment of veterans’ security debarment allowance as approved by the president.”

The letter reads in part, “As a reminder, we wish to refer you to our letter dated November 29, 2022, on the above subject matter.

“We also wish to reiterate that, while we sincerely wish to stand by your ministry’s earlier assurances to pay the first tranche of the SDA before the end of the year 2022, we may be unable to prevent our members from completely shutting down your ministry’s activities in a peaceful protest starting Monday, December 12, 2022, if you default on the payment.”

“We hope that your ministry will do all that is possible for the commencement of the payment to avert this protest, as it will not portray the country well. Please accept the assurances of our highest regards.”

Security Debarment Allowance is said to be the money paid to retired military personnel to discourage them from using the skills they acquired while in service against the government.