Military veterans under the umbrella of the Retired Members of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Coalition of Concerned Military Veterans protested at the Ministry of Defense in Abuja on Monday about the non-payment of their Security Debarment Allowance and other issues.
The Ministry of Defence is housed in Ship House on Olusegun Obasanjo Way in the nation’s capital city, and protesters set up a tent there and blocked the entrance with it.
In January of this year, the retired military personnel picketed the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Defense in support of the same demand.
The National Secretary of REMENAF, Ambassador Roy Okhidievbie, who spoke during the protest on Monday, said that the demonstration was held to demand that the Federal Government pay the security debarment allowance owed to them. He added that the allowances had been approved by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, but the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi, had refused to pay them out.
Okhidievbie said, “We have had meetings with the Defence Minister, Magashi, but he appears to be headstrong, heartless, and unperturbed concerning the grievances of retired military officers, as he never paid nor showed any interest or concern to pay these allowances, especially the Security Debarment Allowance.
“Interestingly, President Buhari-led regime has approved the payment of this allowance, but Magashi have refused to make disbursements.”
Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, the CVV’s spokesperson, also said that the protest on Monday was intended to draw attention to the Security Debarment Allowance’s non-payment and that they planned to camp out at the Ministry of Defence’s gate.
Durowaiye-Herberts said, “We’re here, alongside our wives and children, and the widows of late military personnel and veterans who died in service, some of whom died fighting Boko Haram terrorists.
“We’ll be sleeping over at this place until the Minister of Defence, Magashi accede to our demands.”
A young woman named Anna Nanven said that she had only gotten one allowance payout since her husband’s death, a Corporal, who was killed by Boko Haram terrorists in a raid on a military barracks in Borno State in 2015.
“I now live with his parents, and I bore five kids, three females and two males for him until his demise. The children are aged, 22, 20, 18, 15, and seven years olds, and the two eldest, both girls, that are done with High School can’t afford going to the University because I can’t afford their school fee.
“I am pleading that the President, the Minister of Defence, and Nigerian citizens come to our aid. I and my five children are suffering and living in poverty because I can’t afford starting a business, and I have no job.”
