Retired Nigerian military personnel are set to protest at the Ministry of Defence in Abuja on Wednesday over the failure to implement a consequential adjustment to their pensions following increases in the salaries of serving military personnel.
The planned demonstration was disclosed by Col. Innocent Azubike (retd.), one of the leaders of the aggrieved retirees, who said the protesters were demanding what they described as their pension rights.
According to Azubike, President Bola Tinubu approved an increase in military salaries in November 2025, which the retirees expected to trigger a corresponding adjustment to the pensions of retired personnel.
He alleged that despite repeated acknowledgements by senior military authorities that the President had approved the adjustment, it had not been implemented.
The retired officer said the issue had become more urgent following another salary increase announced for serving military personnel in August 2026, scheduled to take effect in September.
He claimed that while the funds required for implementing the latest salary increase had been calculated, the consequential adjustment for military pensioners was left out.
Azubike said the retirees were not opposed to improved salaries for serving personnel. Their concern, he explained, was that pensioners should also benefit from the corresponding adjustment.
He warned that excluding existing pensioners could create significant disparities between personnel of the same rank and with similar years of service who retired at different times.
He gave the example of two retired captains, arguing that an officer who retires under the new salary structure could eventually receive a substantially higher pension than another officer of the same rank who retired earlier.
The retirees therefore plan to converge at the Ministry of Defence on Wednesday to press their demand for the implementation of the pension adjustment.
The spokesperson for the Minister of Defence, Leah Katung-Babatunde, declined to comment when contacted by The PUNCH.
The planned protest comes shortly after the Federal Government announced another substantial salary increase for members of the Armed Forces. The new adjustment, approved in August, is scheduled to take effect from September 1, 2026.
The pensioners' protest is expected to place renewed attention on the welfare of retired military personnel and the relationship between changes in the pay structure of serving personnel and the pensions of those w
ho have left active service.
