For the second time in seven months, dozens of retired soldiers have blocked the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja, protesting the non-payment of their entitlements.
The protest, which started at 7 a.m. on Monday, August 4, left ministry workers stranded and unable to access their offices.
The ex-servicemen and women are demanding immediate payment of their gratuities, Security Debarment Allowance (SDA), parking allowance, and salary shortfalls.
The angry protesters carried placards with messages highlighting their plight, with one reading, “We are 1st and 2nd Quarter Retirees of NA 2003. We are living heroes and deserve to be recognised and treated right—not celebrated as fallen heroes when we are no more.”
Another placard demanded “full payment of our benefits, including shortfalls in gratuity, SDA, parking allowance, and four months’ salary cuts.”
Despite appeals from the Chairman of the Military Pensions Board (MPB), Air Vice Marshal Adamu, the protesters refused to leave without concrete assurances.
Later, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and other senior officials arrived and invited representatives of the retirees, along with the MPB Chairman, to a closed-door meeting to address their concerns.
According to one of the protesters, retired Corporal Umar Faruq, a key grievance is the MPB’s alleged claim that they are not entitled to the new national minimum wage because they were discharged on July 1, 2024.
The meeting was still ongoing as of press time.
Another protester vowed that they would not leave the premises until the MPB Chairman personally addressed them and confirmed that funds had been released and that payment alerts would begin.
This protest comes seven months after a similar demonstration on January 7, 2025, when the retirees protested their unpaid entitlements, including a 20-28% salary increase owed to them from January to November 2024.
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