RETIRED SOLDIERS LAY SIEGE TO FINANCE MINISTRY HEADQUARTERS

RETIRED SOLDIERS LAY SIEGE TO FINANCE MINISTRY HEADQUARTERS

Scores of retired soldiers who voluntarily exited the Nigerian Army, on Monday shut down the main entrance to the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance.

The protest, which commenced at about 10:15am, witnessed presence of heavy security personnel drawn from the military, police and the Department of State Services (DSS), apparently to prevent break down of law and order.

Retired security personnel from both the police and army have staged protests in the nation’s capital more three times within seven months.

A few weeks ago, retired police officers stormed the Force Headquarters, Abuja, over what they described as “killing Contributory Pension Scheme.”

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Speaking on the sideline of the protest on Monday, one of the leaders of the protesters, Staff Sergeant Simon Ipwu, cited the yet to be paid Security Debarment Allowance and Insurance as one of the reasons for the protest.

Others include cutting of their gratuity and withholding of their four months’ salaries when they tendered their resignation.

He vowed that they would continue lock the ministry’s headquarters until their demands were met.

Ipwu said, “We’re here because of the money we’re supposed to be paid. We wrote for voluntary disengagement because of the army’s attitude towards our work. There is a lot of mischief.

“As we left the job, from the onset, they weren’t comfortable with our leaving, so, they stopped our salaries for four months. After that, they said we were due for the gratuity but they didn’t give us the money we are entitled to.

“We wrote different letters to various quarters and we copied different offices – Army, Defence, Finance, DSS, police and many other offices like that of which we agreed with them that we should give the chance of last two weeks.

“We gave them the chance. We’re thinking that by now, they might have answered us but up till now, they didn’t answer us. Right now, our Security Debarment Allowance hasn’t been paid, our pension gratuity is short paid, our four months’ salaries they cut have not been paid, our insurance hasn’t been paid.”

Repeated phone calls to the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Appolonia Anele, a Lieutenant Colonel, were not answered.

She was yet to respond to a text message sent to her as at when filing this report.