In the face of worsening economic challenges in the country, a retired Naval officer and Chairman, Nigeria Legion, Enugu East Local Government Area, Chief Kenneth Agu, has called on President Bola Tinubu to come to the aid of ex-servicemen.

In this interview, Agu regretted that retired servicemen were dying out of frustration as just a few of them can afford basic needs of life after their retirement from active service.

We’ve seen in many forums where you complained about the difficulties encountered by veterans of the Nigerian military. Can you tell us about these challenges?

The issue is that the way the military is being treated generally in Nigeria is deplorable. For instance, if you check the remuneration of the military, it is too poor. People that are handling guns, people that are well trained, they are not well paid and many people are expecting them to give their best. It is too bad. But the politicians know that if the military and the police are well taken care of most of the atrocities won’t be committed.

The military will have the interest of the public at heart. But the issue is that they are not being well taken care of. They are not well equipped. So, they cannot even give their best to the society. But if they are well taken care of, the politicians cannot manoeuvre many things they are manoeuvring in the country. It is because these people are not properly taken care of, that is why they use some of them, manipulate some of them into doing their own bidding. They just want to impoverish the security forces so they can act and do whatever they want to be doing.

There was this incident where an ex-service man in Benue State committed suicide due to hardship. As a legion leader, can you give us a vivid description of what the situation is with your fellow ex-servicemen in Enugu State? How bad is the situation?

It is too bad. Most of these military people when they were in service were not well paid. They don’t have any savings, they don’t have any investments and when they retire, they retire into Oblivion. They just depend on their monthly pension. And most of these monthly pensions are not being paid promptly.

And there is something we call Security Debarment Allowance (SDA). This is the money paid to retirees so that they wouldn’t use the knowledge they have acquired from the military against society. These SDAs have not been paid to many military men and some of them that have been paid were paid in bits.

So, the money is not even useful. Some people collected N30,000, some received N40,000 but this is the money that is supposed to run into N3million or N5 million so that the people that benefit from it can use it to start up a business or farming or invest in one thing or the other that will help ameliorate their suffering in the society. But check out now, everything is on the rise; foodstuffs, accommodation, medical supplies, even school fees.

But the pension and the salary of the military have not been increased in any way. And there are no incentives. Like in the developed countries, the military men are given 30 per cent rebate for anything they are buying. If they want to buy a ticket to travel, they give them a 30 per cent discount. If they are going to shop, they give them a 30 per cent discount.

Those things do not happen in Nigeria. And most of those military men are frustrated because they do not have where to sleep when they retire because there is no proper housing programme for them when they retire. Like the man that committed suicide, there is hunger. There are responsibilities to meet up with. How can you do it, there is no money.

After serving this country, endangering your life, you don’t have anything to show for it. It is frustrating. And some people have conscience. They don’t want to go into crime and criminality just to meet up. Some people don’t have the mind to go into criminal acts just to meet up or to get money. So, some people are frustrated, some people commit suicide.

This one you heard was the one that was publicised. Some happen and we don’t know about it. So, the man died out of frustration and some of them have not even received their retirement allowance until they die. Like right now, they have not paid that debarment allowance. Many people are still waiting for it.

They have not been paid. They will push it to the Ministry of Defence, defence will push it to the Ministry of Finance, Finance will say there is no cash backing. But in the course of waiting for the cash backing, you will hear that N40 billion has been stolen somewhere, that N30 billion is missing the other side. That they are using N5 billion for renovation.

You start hearing different stories that money has been spent on or many have been allocated for while those money that should be allocated to those military men or ex- military men are not being allocated to them.

Are you saying that this could fuel the propensity to go into crime by these men?

Of course, imagine somebody has received training on how to use arms and ammunition and the person is hungry and there is no other way for the person to make a living, it is tempting. And people will come with tempting proposals. Come and help us and buy guns, come and help us and train people, come and help us and do kidnapping, I will pay you well. Many criminals, because they know you are a retired military man and you have some experience, they will like to come and lure you, and they will use you to achieve their aim.

Can you emphasize more on the dangers of leaving these ex-servicemen in penury?

It is dangerous because those people are like loose ends when you don’t take care of people that are well-experienced or have some information on national security. It is a security risk because those are the people that are supposed to be giving back to the society security-wise.

Those are the people that are supposed to be involved in the security architecture of the local, state and Federal Governments. So, when these people are not taken care of, the implications are that if you come to this our Eastern part of Nigeria, most people are shying away from joining the military because when they look at the people that have retired, they would see that they didn’t really have anything to show yet people that have stolen money from the government are living in affluence.

Last year, the Chief of Army Staff, sent a delegation to the eastern states to encourage people to enlist in the army because people are shying away. The implications are that if you come to Enugu and there is a quota to promote officers or to give appointments to officers we will be lacking because our people are not there to be promoted or to be given the appointment.

Now people are complaining that Igbo people are not in appointment, they don’t appoint Igbo people but it’s because there is nobody to appoint. People are shying away from joining the military because the people that they have seen retire are not well taken care of. They are suffering, so nobody wants to associate with that.

What do you think is the way forward? What should the government do to address this dangerous challenge?

The government should do everything possible to pay the military a good salary. Their salary should be a special scale. Because they are the people protecting the territorial integrity of the nation. And they should be paid promptly and those people that have served should be given a proper retirement plan, especially giving them a special retirement plan, especially giving them housing.

There are post housing sites everywhere. The Army has post housing, the Navy has post housing, but the retirees do not have a house. Because of corruption, those post houses are being built up but not allocated to the retirees. So, when they retire, they will start paying house rents with the civilians because once you retire, they eject you from the barracks. You start looking for where to stay. Some people go to the village and there is no proper plan as to what they are going to retire to.

We have an Armed Forces Resettlement Centre where they go and do some training before they retire but after those training on areas like farming, poultry or aquatic farm, there is no money given to those people to implement what they have learnt. But people that have their own dreams as to what they are going to do after retirement, they don’t have any financial backing to implement them. So, it is an impediment to them. The way forward is looking for a way to make sure those military people are paid well; retirees are well paid and on time.

Now when you are paying them the money, you are not paying in time, the value of the Naira has come down; you will still pay them the value of the money you were paying them ten years ago. You are coming back to pay them the same amount. It will amount to nothing because inflation has already depreciated the value of the money you are supposed to be paying them. So, those things should be looked into, and should be implemented.

They should not be wasting time in paying those military people their entitlements and their monthly pension because it is so frustrating; if you wait until the month end, the government has not paid you. And most of these people go and borrow money or collect things on credit, waiting for their pension and when the pension doesn’t come in time, it is a lot of frustration for them.

Most of them have medical challenges because they are aging. They also need medical attention and there is no money to take care of their medical bills because they are waiting for their pension. It is frustrating. I have said it over and over that the retirees should be engaged in the state security architecture. Government thinks that retirees are old and feeble but there are retirees that are still very active and young. They still have many years to offer. That is another way of engaging them. If this is done, they will be getting allowance for their services and also help in tackling criminality. (Daily Sun)

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