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Kwankwaso Attempts to Eliminate Fake Names From Military Pensions

By Chris Ochayi, Vanguard

September 12, 2003

Defence Minister, Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has said the Federal Government will only inject more fund for the payment of the arreas of pension and gratuity of military retirees if fake pensioners are flushed out of the administration of military pensions board.

Engineer Kwankwaso disclosed this when he visited the Mogadishu Barracks during the general conduct of the pay parade and verification exercise of some retired military pensioners, which commenced nation-wide recently.

According to the press statement signed by Nwachukwu Bello, of the ministry, he said that the administration of military pension has been plagued with a lot of problems over the years and efforts made by successive governments have not yielded appreciable positive results. Despite many billions of naira paid to the directorate of military pension for the payment of retirees, thousands of them are still agitating for payment of what they believe is due to them.

Continuing, the minister stressed that it is the intention of government to pay the military pensioners as and when due and that is the ultimate reason for the current physical verification exercise so as to ascertain the exact military pensioners in the payroll.

Furthermore, it is the collective responsibility of government to sanitize and re-position the moribund directorate of military pension so that the payment of pension, gratuity and other payments to officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces are utilized for the very purpose it was meant by paying genuine pensioners and not fake ones.

He, therefore appealed for the co-operation of all stake-holders to make the payment of military pensions less cumbersome in order to enable the government inject more fund into the system to clear up the arrears.