Military veterans on Tuesday, October 13, barricaded the entrance to the Military Pensions Board (MPB) office in Dutse Alhaji, Abuja, bringing chairs and canopies to block access to the building while armed soldiers stood guard, preventing them from entering. The protest centres on the formula the MPB used to calculate consequential adjustments to veterans' pensions following salary increases for serving military personnel.
Veterans Highlight Pension Payment Disparity
Lt. Col. Innocent Azubike, the coordinator of the Veterans Association of Nigeria, told Legit.ng in a message that the action was driven by deep dissatisfaction with how the board had implemented those adjustments. The retirees argue that the MPB's method produces unequal outcomes for pensioners of the same rank who served the same number of years but retired at different times.
To illustrate, they compared two hypothetical retired private soldiers who each served 35 years but retired a year apart. A soldier who retired in October 2025 on a monthly salary of N100,000 would receive a pension of N90,000, which is 90 per cent of that salary. Under an approved consequential adjustment of 80 per cent for that rank category, the veterans say the additional payment should be N72,000, raising the monthly pension to N162,000. Instead, they claim the MPB applied the 90 per cent pension rate to the 80 per cent increase, yielding only N64,800 extra and a total pension of N154,800.
A second soldier who retired in October 2026 after the same 35 years of service, on a salary of N180,000, would receive N162,000, representing 90 per cent of that higher figure. The comparison leaves a gap of N7,200 per month between two retirees of equal rank and equal service, a disparity the veterans say could widen significantly among more senior retirees.
Veterans Demand Audit of Pensions Board
Beyond rejecting the computation method, the veterans are calling for a forensic audit of the MPB to determine how much money was released for the pension adjustments and how it was spent. They also want an end to any policy that, in their view, penalises retirees simply because of when they left service.
The veterans say their position reflects what they describe as the constitutional and legal provisions governing pension adjustments after salary increases, and that the board's approach does not align with the relevant circular issued by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC).
Tuesday's action follows a similar demonstration at the Ministry of Defence in September, during which retirees demanded higher pensions after serving personnel received salary increases. Defence Minister Christopher Musa had at the time promised that retirees would see an increase in October. The latest protest signals that the dispute over how that promise was implemented remains unresolved.
Military Veterans Demand N250k Minimum Wage
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that more than 70 retired military officers called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government to immediately honour its commitment to pay serving soldiers a minimum wage of N250,000. The military veterans accused the authorities of backtracking on a law that President Tinubu reportedly signed.
