In countries where matters are handled properly and consistently in line with the guiding rules, the recent protest by military retirees over alleged non-payment of salary arrears and exclusion from the latest pay rise for personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces would not have occurred. Must people troop to the streets in protest before they can get what is legally due to them? If a protest is staged to demand something not already in place, any delay in obtaining it can be understood in the context of the relevant authorities’ need to consider and reconsider whether to grant such a request.
 
But how do we explain a situation where the government has approved a pay rise for the military, yet only some of the intended beneficiaries are captured in the implementation and the others are left out? The implication is that those left out are not entitled to the pay rise. But that cannot be established as the case in this matter. This attitude to the implementation of government decisions and policies will always be a recipe for crisis. It is unacceptable and should not be allowed in our governance culture.
 
Military retirees in the country recently staged a protest at the Ministry of Defence in Abuja over the alleged failure by the authorities to implement the consequential adjustment to their pensions following the salary increase approved for serving military personnel. One of the leaders of the protesters, Lt. Col. Innocent Azubike (rtd), said they embarked on the action to demand their constitutional pension right.

Azubike explained that in November 2025, President Bola Tinubu approved a salary increase for serving military personnel, which normally should result in a consequential upward adjustment of pension paid to retired military personnel, but the adjustment was yet to be implemented by the military authorities. He also cited the alleged exclusion of the retirees from another salary increase of between 30 per cent and 80 per cent in August 2026 for active military personnel as one of the reasons for their protest.

According to him, the military had computed the fund requirement for the second salary increase, which was to begin in September, again, excluding the retirees by not effecting the consequential adjustment of the pension paid to them. He claimed that the demonstration was to demand their constitutional pension right. Were the protesters wrong?
 
Though neither the Armed Forces Act nor the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria explicitly states the exact salary figures or automatic percentage increases, in principle, they support the claim by the protesters that their pension should be reviewed as a consequence of the Federal Government’s approval of a pay rise for their serving colleagues.
 
Veteran leaders and legal arguments have asserted that pensions must undergo consequential adjustments whenever serving personnel receive pay raises. Their argument has roots in section 173 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which mandates that pensions be reviewed every five years or concurrently with any upward revision of federal civil or public service salaries. Among the consequences of any failure to do so is that disparities will be created between military personnel of the same rank and number of service years but who retired at different times. A sergeant who retired recently under the new salary regime could be earning a pension that is far higher than that of a Lieutenant Colonel who retired about 10 years ago. This will be an unfair situation that should not be allowed, and that is part of the reason for the consequential adjustment.
 
The validity of the claim by the protesting retirees was also established when, amid the crisis, their representatives paid a courtesy visit to the Defence Minister, Gen. Christopher Musa (rtd), at the Ministry of Defence in Abuja, where Musa, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Richard Pheelangwah, assured them that the concerns over their wage and pension adjustment were receiving urgent attention. In a statement issued on the visit by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Henshaw Ogubike, he reported the minister as saying that relevant military, pension and financial authorities were being engaged to achieve a fair, sustainable and implementable resolution of the matter.
  
By the comments of Gen. Musa, the story is not that the protesters were not entitled to their demand. Why then were they excluded initially? What is the assurance that if they had kept quiet, they would have been considered for pension review? The November 2025 and August 2026 pay raises could not have been the only ones the military has enjoyed in the history of the institution. How have others been handled in the past in relation to the pensions of retired colleagues? Those who did the computation of the fund required to implement the pay rise should be people with institutional memory of all that should be given consideration in the pay rise, and quickly draw attention to anything crucial that is missing.
 
It is distressing to see pensioners suffer at the hands of their employers in the country. In many states across the nation, their entitlements are delayed and their arrears are not paid for up to 36 months, while the governors are recruiting and paying hundreds of political aides just as they waste money on white elephant projects. One of the disgusting things the state does is also to delay the entitlements of workers who died in active service. Many children of such deceased civil or public servants are among the millions of out-of-school children roaming the streets and constituting a serious threat to national peace in future because the government failed to pay the entitlements of their late parents, which they need to continue their education or engage in other endeavours that should make them responsible citizens.
  
In sane societies, the government considers the disruption that the death of a worker in active service would cause to the education, feeding and healthcare of the family and makes it a policy to pay the family within three months after necessary processing is completed. Where is our love for these fellow citizens who suffered this unfortunate fate? The focus is on how to steal public funds and fraudulently become a billionaire. Integrity has no place in governance. Very sad!
 
There is hardly any evidence that the constitutional directive that pensions be reviewed every five years is being carried out in a country where a high rate of inflation is constantly making a mess of the value of what is paid to pensioners and the high cost of living is choking many people to death.
 
Whatever the protesting military pensioners are entitled to should be paid to them as promised by the defence minister and they should not be made to die in the sun protesting before they can get what is due to them at any time.