Retired military personnel on Monday said the announcement by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) on the approval of the payment of Security Debarment Allowance was not new.
Buhari last week during the inauguration of the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Emblem and Appeal Fund said he had approved N134.7bn for the payment of the allowance to all military veterans.
A Security Debarment Allowance is the money paid to retired military personnel to discourage them from using the skills they acquired while in service against the government.
The veterans, under the aegis of the Coalition of Concerned Military Veterans, commenced a nationwide protest against the non-payment of the allowance in January 2022, which they called off after assurances from the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retd.)
In September, the ex-servicemen also protested the delay in the payment of the allowance.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, the spokesperson for the CVV, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, said the Ministry of Defence had in May written to them that the President had approved the payment of their owed allowance.
He said, “First, we appreciate the President for the gesture he extended to us. The pronouncement by the President on the release of N134bn for the payment of SDA for those of us who were hitherto excluded is not a new thing. Precisely, on May 10, 2022, the office of the Minister of Defence communicated to us the same presidential approval.
“We would have expected the president to make a pronouncement to give a directive to the Minister of Finance to commence payment. From May till now is six months, this presidential approval is enough for the implementation to have been concluded. What we want is for the President to give the Minister of Finance cash backing. Money approved is not money released.”
Durowaiye-Herberts warned that the continued delay in the payment was dangerous for a country fighting insurgency.
“The government should take this payment seriously because those being affected are those who had acquired dangerous skills in various areas. The delay in giving this to them is making them vulnerable. Non-payment is as dangerous as fighting insurgency,” he added.
