By Kolawole Ojebisi
Frustration turned into excitement and agitation into celebration for retired military personnel after they started receiving credit alerts for the full payment of their long-overdue entitlements.
The credit alerts started rolling in in the course of the protest to show their grievances over the non-payment of salaries and other entitlements.
The cheering development suddenly put paid to the protest as the retirees started leaving the protest site.
As most of them were dispersing, some were spotted dismantling the canopies and chairs they had set up to block the entrance of the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja.
The retirees had barricaded the entrance to the Ministry of Finance in Abuja as early as 7 a.m., using canopies and chairs, to demand the full payment of their entitlements.
Their actions prevented staff members from driving into the premises, forcing many to park their vehicles outside.
This protest followed a similar action in December, during which the retirees shut down the ministry over the government’s failure to settle their claims.
For months, the retirees were told that there were no funds to clear their entitlements, despite official approval for the payments.
They are owed a 20% to 28% salary increment covering January to November 2024.
The retirees also demanded payments for other outstanding benefits, including palliatives for the period between October 2023 and November 2024, an additional ₦32,000 added to their pensions, a bulk payment of the Security Debarment Allowance and a refund of pension deductions from the salaries of medically boarded soldiers.
In response to their December protests, the federal government paid 50% of the owed entitlements and promised to settle the balance.
However, the retirees claimed the government failed to fulfill this promise, prompting the resumption of their protests on Tuesday.
Efforts by a team of police officers from the Federal Capital Territory, other security agencies, and senior ministry staff to persuade the retirees to call off the protest were unsuccessful.
The protesters insisted they would only leave upon receiving credit alerts for their entitlements.
Shortly before the protesters began receiving their alerts, the Chairman of the Military Pension Board, Air Vice Marshal Paul Irumheson, addressed the retirees, confirming that the funds for their entitlements had been transferred to the board.
Irumheson said, “We have received the money for the payment of your entitlements, and in the next few minutes, you will start seeing your alerts. We plead with you to leave as we are making efforts to ensure everyone gets paid.”
The spokesperson for the Coalition for Concerned Veterans, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, confirmed that alerts had started coming through.
“Our people have started receiving the alerts. We are now evacuating the ministry headquarters to return to our various homes,” Durowaiye-Herberts said.
Another leader of the veteran community, Aliyu Umar, also confirmed the payment while expressing frustration at the government’s earlier claims.
Umar said, “Yes, we have started receiving our money. They said there was no money—so where did this come from? Do we always have to protest before we are given our entitlements?”
