…TO BATTLE FG, MILITARY AUTHORITIES OVER SDA, OTHERS
By Okosun Dennis
Military Veterans under the auspices of Retired Members of Nigerian Armed Forces (REMENAF) and Coalition of Concerned Veterans (CCV) are spoiling for another round of protest to compel the Federal Government of Nigeria and the military authorities to pay their Security Debarment Allowance (SDA) in full and other entitlements.
As a result, the protest which was suspended in late 2022 will commence soon at a date yet to be specified. The protest will be with a Hashtag: #Let the Veterans Breathe.”
However, a notice served the veterans community and signed by the spokesperson of RNC/CCV, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts disclosed that “This is to announce the lifting of the ban on our “peaceful protest,” which we suspended late last year.
Topmost on the list of their demands include a new and reasonable template and payment of outstanding Security Debarment Allowance (SDA) at once or twice, and disparity in pension and other outstanding accruable arrears from the consequential minimum wage during the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s regime.
However, the Manual of Financial Administration (MAFA) for the Armed Forces of Nigeria (2012) clearly states that every member of the Armed Forces dead or alive is entitled to a Debarment allowance.
Page 98 of MAFA under the sub-heading: “Security Debarment Allowances” explicitly states that every retired military man living or dead is entitled to the allowance.
However, at the twilight of the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, approved N134.7 billion for the payment of Security Debarment Allowance to all veteran military officers.
In furtherance to that, a week ago, the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru said at the ministerial briefing on the 2024 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration that the Federal Government has approved the sum of N134,749,953,243.69 for security debarment allowance for military veterans.
Despite those approvals, veterans only received phased payments in bits and pieces. It was gathered that SDA payments started in the first quarter of 2023 and are yet to receive payment for the fourth quarter of 2023.
A veteran identified as Awolabi said other veterans who retired after 2017 were paid in millions of naira and saw no reason why those who retired prior to 2017 would be paid peanuts. Despite that, they want to pay the merger amount across three years.
To compound the imbalances, instead of paying the veterans in bulk, the Military Pensions Board (MPB) resorted to paying them every quarter which will terminate in 2025, a practice military veterans kicked against and demanded the payment at once or twice since budgetary allocation has been made and the expected funds approved across two administrations.
In addition, it was further gathered that the veterans are demanding that the new template should be used to pay them since it’s a one-off payment, and as retired veterans, who served and retired at different times, it’s embarrassing to inject all clauses and discriminatory practices into the payment structure.
“Whether you served and retired in 1980 and a soldier and officer that retired in 2020, it’s the same Armed Forces in defence of Nigeria. Why, when it comes to monetary benefit, discrimination is brought to bear,” Awolabi asked bemusing such ill-treatment.
It was learnt that when the Ministers were sworn in, the leadership of the veterans community extended an olive branch in written letters, (twice) to both the Honourable Minister of Defence (HMoD) and Honourable Minister of State for Defence (HMoSD), as a diplomatic move to drive home their demands.
Unfortunately, Durowaiye-Herberts added, “It appears some interest within are constituting themselves as clogs in the wheel of progress, and by so doing, they have given the Ministers many reasons why we should not be listened to.
“We have vowed that since they won’t dialogue with us in a mutual way, we would have no choice than resort to protest to get their attention on the street. We cannot sit back and watch our sensibility being toyed with,” the statement averred.
They decried the pitiable situation the Nigerian government has always left the veterans who sacrifice their lives to defend the territorial integrity of the country but when it comes to giving them a welfare package, it is met with complaints of lack of funds.
Particularly, while expressing dissonance, they frowned at the practice where the government that complained of funds would appropriate billions of naira to procure expensive SUVs for members of the National Assembly but cannot pay little token to veterans who fought through the trenches and bushes to ensure peace in the country.
“Isn’t it disgusting that a newly elected member of the Nigerian parliament, is been given an SUV worth over N100,000,000 (One hundred million) as a welcome gift, as against a Military Veteran who served 35 years and still begging to be paid his SDA?
“Then, someone somewhere will want to convince us that there’s no money and the economy is bad! Why is it always bad when it comes to military retirees? We can’t continue like this,” they warned.
Security Debarment Allowance is an allowance payable by each service to all personnel on retirement from service or death. The essence of this allowance is to debar personnel from employing skills acquired in service against the state after retirement.
The agitation to be paid SDA started a few years ago with a protest that led to the blocking of the Ministry of Defence gate in Abuja and other states before they were inculcated into the payment structure, galvanizing into a phased payment which has not gone palatable with veterans hence they are demanding for a one-off payment with the new template.
