The Federal Government has assured retired soldiers that their outstanding entitlements will be paid this week, prompting the ex-servicemen to suspend their week-long protest at the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja.
On Monday, the veterans quietly dismantled their protest canopy and dispersed after holding a closed-door meeting with officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Military Pension Board, the Nigerian Army Welfare Insurance Scheme (NAWIS), and the Security Debarment Allowance (SDA) department.
Ekundayo Alisame, a Retired Sergeant and leader of the protest confirmed to journalists that the government had collected the names of veterans who had not received their full payments and promised that disbursement would begin before the weekend.
“They collected the names, and they promised that from now till weekend, they will start to pay all those NAWIS, Benford, and whosoever that claimed not to have received some part of his payment,” Alisame said.
The protest, which began last week, was triggered by disputes over the payment chart used to calculate benefits.
Alisame explained that while some retirees received payments on a July–December schedule, others, including members of his group, were meant to be paid from January to June but were excluded due to errors.
“What the authority told us today is that the chart being used to prepare our benefits is not supposed to be so. We fall within the range of January to June. That is just our bone of contention,” he added.
According to him, the meeting also addressed other unresolved issues, including shortfalls in packing allowances and delayed payment of three months in lieu of benefits.
Alisame appealed directly to President Bola Tinubu to mandate military authorities to establish a transparent framework for entitlements, ensuring soldiers are aware of their benefits from the day they enlist.
“I appeal to President Tinubu to tell the military authorities that the day anybody is shortlisted into the system, you should be able to know, if I serve five years, this is my entitlement. So that all this mess will not come again,” he said.
He lamented that veterans often face prolonged hardship due to delayed payments, stressing that entitlements should be consolidated from all relevant agencies and made available immediately upon discharge.
The ex-servicemen were also informed that they would not be entitled to the new rate of payment, a conclusion that further underscored their grievances.
They had also accused military authorities of diverting funds meant for allowances and gratuities, vowing to continue until their demands were met.
