Culled—National Wire

…says SDA contained in Harmonized Terms & Conditions of Service (HTACOS)
By: Okosun Dennis

Retired Army, Navy and Airforce Officers Association of Nigeria (RANAO) and Coalition of Concerned Veterans (CCV) and its affliate organizations have come out of their trenches and launched a ferocious attacks on the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (retd) and the Ministry of Defence for tactically removing their names from benefiting from Debarment Allowance.

Manual on Financial Administration for Armed Forces of Nigeria 2012 and the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS) as amended stipulates that every member of the Nigerian Armed Forces is entitled to the allowance on retirement or death while in service without any ambiguity.

Rather the Ministry of Defence commenced the payment of Debarment Allowance to some selected retired members of the armed forces on 20 June, 2020 and only paid officers and soldiers that retired from service from 9 November, 2017 to date, living majority of retired personnel who laid down their lives to defend the territorial integrity of the country from enjoying what they described as “their right.”

Nationalwire findings revealed that “Security Debarment Allowance is an allowance payable by each service to all personnel on retirement from service or death” but since payment to their colleagues started with several millions of naira credited to their account, they have holistically condemned the MOD for excluding majority of them.

As a result, RANAO and CCV have written separate letters to the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (Retd) calling for his intervention. They are also appealing to the President and Commander – In – Chief of the Armed Forces, Mohammadu Buhari to step into it with a view to compelling Ministry of Defence to pay them their entitlement and stop the “discriminatory practice unheard of in the history of the forces.”

The letter Nationalwire obtained and signed by RANAO’s National President, Maj Gen Alexander Mshelbwala (retd) and addressed to the Minister of Defence dated 1st June, 2020 and titled: Request for Payment of Debarment Allowance to all Retired Armed Forces Personnel” appealed to the Minister and other addressees to consider the scarifices made by soldiers who fought in the civil war, ECOMOG in Liberia and Sierra Leone and other internal security operations and pay them.

“It is our prayers that your Excellency and the Appropriate Superior Authorities (ASA) revisit the issue and approve the payment of the allowance across the board to avoid discriminatory policies that do not augur well for peaceful co-existence and the indivisibility of the Armed Forces.”

Expressing angst in its letter to the Minister of Defence, CCV pointed out that, “We, leaders of the various veterans (CCV) find it difficult that such a sensitive issue was perpetuated without due consultations and brief by the Veterans Affairs Department under your ministry.”

Meanwhile, senior retired veterans who had the opportunity during their service years to serve at various theatre of wars both at international and domestic peace keeping operations are vehemently opposed to the division and discriminatory practises MOD has enuciated by clandestinely sehemeing majority of them out from benefiting from their primary entitlement.

According to sources, Some veterans are of the view that for the military to win wars, defend the territorial integrity of the country and continue to assist during civil unrest, it cannot afford to engage in this “unholisome practice knowing full well that during service they all ate in the same pot and by extension collect the same allowance met for everybody.”

Nationalwire’s inquiring further revealed that those who retired before 2017 are not happy and have voiced out their sentiments and frustration against a system they laid down their lives to serve.

Some of the Veterans spoken to by Nationalwire sounded the same
tone and sang the same song; all expressing shock, bewilderment and discontentment over the denigrating and discriminatory policy of the ministry of defence to create a chasm among veterans who fought and ate together during internecine wars at different subregions during peacekeeping operations.

At the moment, some of these Veterans are nursing various degrees of life threatening injuries and physical disabilities from mortar and mines attack during the Nigerian Civil War between 1968 – 1970; Liberia and Sierra Leone internecine war; attacks from Sudanese JaJaweed and recently attacks from bandits and Boko Haram insurgents. And most of them rely on these allowances to pay their medical bills.

Therefore, they want the President and Minister of Defence, who are also war veterans to step in and arrest the ugly trend before it snowball into affecting the moral of those in service because “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

Speaking with Nationalwire, Maj Gen KB Kareem (Retd) expressed disappointment with this discriminatory practises by the military authorities and added that such act could affect espirit de Corp and comradeship in the service.

According to him, “By extension, it would affect those in service especially those combating terrorists in the Northeast. In the mission area, soldiers are there fighting and some of their colleagues are already dead. The dead ones are supposed to be entitled to Security Debarment Allowance and you want to deny those categories of people who have laid down their lives?

“The application is wrong. The social contract we had and the oath of alligeance that we took on Commission or enlistment is to the Federal Republic of Nigeria not to a political administration. Whatever government that sign it should apply to every military pensioner because he is signing on behalf of the Federal government,” Gen Kareem explained.

He reiterated that their families and their next of kins should benefit from that policy. You cannot say that because you want to save cost, endanger efficiency and effectiveness of the troops.”

Peter Obiora, who retired as a Corporal and now into private business berated MOD for not appreciating veterans enough despite protecting the territorial sovereignty of the country.

“It’s an unfortunate development not to pay us debarment allowance alongside fellow Veterans who were recently paid. We all put our lives on the line; especially in our youthful years to keep Nigeria secured and safe, you deny yourself a good measure of liberty in the service of your Father land bearing arms to protect its territorial sovereignty. Why paying some and not paying the rest of us? Is it not the same service we all rendered to Nigeria? To be treated in such a way is not only disheartening but lack of respect for Nigerian Veterans.”

Adding that “Nigerian Veterans remains one of the worst badly treated in the whole world in terms of welfare compared to their counterparts in the other countries like the United States of America and United Kingdom, Obiora bemused that denying veterans entitled “chunk of fund” was a calculated attempt to starve them of funds they could use in resolving their pressing needs. We deserve it, its our sweat, we have worked for it, its our right,” he reiterated.

Elucidating on what he described as an attempt to cause a division among veterans, Azubuike Nass, a retired Colonel observed that the present leadership of Defence Headquarters (DHQ) was met to cause segregation and division among military retirees by categorizing them as the Old who retired from 1950s to 2016, and New who retired from 2017 and upwards.

He, however, deferred from MOD’s position but emphasized that maybe their thinking is that “the Old veterans have no military skills that can be used against national security, hence they think “we are not qualified to be paid Debarment Allowance against only those that retired from 2017 to date are more “skillful and are qualified to be paid the huge amount of money.”

As the stage seems set for administrative confrontation between Coalition of Concerned Veterans, RANAO and Ministry of Defence, Nationalwire gathered that what the veterans need from the military authorities is to see them as human beings that contributed immensely to enduring peace everybody is enjoying and as such deserve to be treated as senior citizens that “laid down their lives for the country but not as people that have been “used and dumped.”

On whether there are options opened to resolve the impasse, Gen Kareem noted that they are trying to exploit the administrative process, which he believes is still within the purview of military authorities but if it fails, they would have no choice than “shout loudly to the Nigerian public.

Besides, they might be forced to take it to the legislators to interpret the policy properly or could take legal action as a last resort.”

When contacted, the Media Aide to the Honourable Minister of Defence, Abdulkarim Mohammed to confirm actions being taken by the Minister to address Veterans’ demand with a view to paying them the allowance, he pleaded to be given time to make necessary enquiries on this sensitive matter.

“Please, give me a little time to make some enquiries on this sensitive matter that must be thoroughly investigated and interrogated.”

After over a week, there was no concrete response despite reminders.

Also contacted, the Director, Defence Information (DDI) Brig Gen Nwachukwu Onyeama to respond on the Chief of Defence Staff’s position on the allowance, he didn’t respond to text and WhatsApp message as well as call put across to his line.

Meanwhile, as the military pensioners wait for the outcome of various consultations going on to sway the Minister and Defence ministry to include the rest on the payroll that will enjoy Debarment Allowance, it is expected that the right thing should be done for these senior citizens to reap the fruit of their labour and the reason for laying down their lives for the rest of us to have a sane, secured environment would be harnessed.