A video recording, which went viral online featuring a military retiree, Private Ibrahim Umoru, with Service Number 63NA/339199, who claimed he was being owed outstanding pension arrears from 1982–2003 has spurred allegations that this is only one example of a more prevalent incidence of abandonment of retired military personnel and accumulation of unpaid pensions to ex-servicemen spanning considerable periods. The Military Pensions Board (MPB), which moved swiftly to investigate the claim and promptly issued a report on its initial findings, explained that Umoru was not only paid his gratuity on being discharged from the army, he had been duly receiving his monthly pension from 2003 till March, 2019.
The MPB spokesman, Fl- Lieutenant Obasi Okoroafor, attributed the non-payment of the aggrieved ex-serviceman’s entitlement for the period between 1982 and 2003 to his refusal to make himself available for mandatory verification exercises for about 16 years, to confirm that he was alive and eligible to be paid his pension. According to Okoroafor, “The board always welcomes complaints from genuine retired personnel and also advises retirees to avoid accumulating pension arrears due to not turning up for documentation or verification”.
But if Umoru failed to attend verification exercises as required to qualify for pension payment, on what basis has he been receiving his pension since 2003 as claimed by the MPB? Again, since the MPB is the custodian of all the requisite records, why did Umoru have to cry out publicly before the board investigated the cause of his unpaid outstanding pension arrears? The MPB, in our view, has an even greater responsibility than the military retirees to detect and respond quickly to determine the cause of unduly accumulating pension arrears so as to alert the affected officers and also plug any loopholes for the perpetration of fraud.
There seems to be more to this affair than has been revealed thus far and we welcome the MPB’s assurance that “The board has an established procedure of investigating the authenticity of such claims to avoid being defrauded by mischievous elements. Notwithstanding, efforts are ongoing to unravel what transpired during those periods before his (Umoru’s) appearance”. Beyond this instant case, however, it is important for the MPB to ascertain if there are other cases of unreported unpaid accumulated pension arrears in order to ensure prompt payment of the entitlements of those being owed, or the closure of such accounts where the claimants cannot be traced.
This case brings to the fore, once again, the need for public and private organisations in Nigeria to avail themselves of the latest innovations in information technology to make the process of documentation and verification of pensioners’ records less cumbersome and stressful. The familiar sight of aged pensioners travelling long distances and having to queue for several hours to authenticate their documents and access their entitlements does not speak well of us as a nation that values the dignity of her citizens.
When pensioners are treated with disdain and disregard, then those who are currently still in active and productive employment will have no incentive to give their best to their organisations and the country as a whole. Rather, many more citizens will be inclined to cut corners and seek whatever ways to accumulate material wealth, no matter how unethical, so that they will not have to rely in their retirement years on pension payments that require so much laborious effort to receive.
Toying with pensioners’ entitlements is even more dangerous and counterproductive in the military, which requires its members to sacrifice even their very lives for their country as a matter of duty. Serving military personnel who see the travails some of those who preceded them go through to get their entitlements will certainly not be inspired to readily pay the ultimate price for their fatherland, even when necessary.
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