Nigerian military retirees and relatives of deceased military officers are now receiving Security Debarment Allowance (SDA) payments from the federal government.
It is understood that the government’s drive to military personnel was intended to discourage those who had served in the force from using their skills to oppose the government.
However, the Military Pension Board had previously stated that those who retired before 2017 would not be eligible for benefits because they were not in service when the program was implemented.
Since the program’s inception, more than 90,000 military retirees who retired before 2017 have not been able to access it.
According to Major-General Bashir Magashi (retd), Minister of Defence, their exclusion was intentional because personnel who retired before the law was signed were not eligible for the allowance.
In information gathered from Within Nigeria, it was learnt that the affected soldiers have been protesting for the past two years to demand the payment of their allowances.
However, at the inauguration of the Armed Forces Day 2023 Sign and Appeal Fund last year, President Muhammadu Buhari said he had approved N134.7 billion for stipend payments to all veterans.
In a statement received today, Admiral Saburi Lawal, Chairman of the Military Pensions Board, said the board has started payments after reaching an agreement with the retirees.
The statement read;
Sequel to the approval given by the President for the payment of the Security Debarment Allowance to military retirees who originally were not covered by the November 9, 2017, effective date and the agreement reached at the ensuing tripartite meetings of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Finance and representatives of the Veteran Associations.
The Military Pensions Board wishes to inform our esteemed military retirees and the general public that the Board has commenced payment of the first and second tranches (that is, for 1st and 2nd Quarters 2023) of the SDA to eligible military retirees/Next of Kins of deceased military personnel.
The payment, which is in fulfilment of the Presidential approval of the provisions of the reviewed Manual of Financial Administration 2017, will commence on Thursday, 5 January 2023.
Lawal reiterated that those whose names were on the database and retired before November 9, 2017, would be paid.
The statement added;
The beneficiaries of these payments are: military retirees on the MPB database who retired before 9 November 2017, deceased military retirees who were alive when the MAFA was signed on 9 November 2017, and non-pensionable retirees who retired before 9 November 2017 but were only paid gratuities.
However, our esteemed retirees are please requested to note that the SDA is calculated as a function of 10% of the retiree’s annual basic salary at the time of retirement multiplied by the number of years served in the services.
However, he urged all concerned military pensioners and NOKs of deceased military personnel to approach their banks for their rights.
