The scene outside the Ship House in Abuja on Wednesday is one that should trouble every Nigerian. A group of elderly men, veterans of the Nigerian military, had gathered to demand that the government implement the consequential pension adjustments that should have followed the salary increases approved for serving military personnel in November 2025.
They were met by armed soldiers who prevented them from entering the premises. That was the scene, and it was a disgrace.
Let us establish the timeline. In November 2025, President Bola Tinubu approved a new salary increase for military and paramilitary personnel. That was nine months ago. The veterans have been waiting since then for their pensions to be adjusted accordingly. They have waited through December, through the new year, through the rainy season and they are still waiting.
Recently, a fresh salary adjustment was approved for serving military personnel, that is due to take effect on September 1, 2026. Under the new arrangement, officers above the rank of colonel will receive a 30 per cent increase. Personnel from colonel to warrant officer will receive 50 per cent. Those from private to staff sergeant will receive 80 per cent. The Armed Forces wage bill will jump from N660 billion to N924 billion. And the veterans? They have been excluded from the computation. Again.
A retired lieutenant colonel, Innocent Anas, who was among the protesting veterans, put the matter plainly, when he explained that a captain who retired ten years ago is now receiving a pension lower than what a sergeant who retired recently collects. Both served the same military. One gave more years, reached a higher rank, and is now being paid less. The government has created a system where those who served longer and rose higher are penalised for retiring earlier. It is a perverse incentive, and it is a violation of the law.
Because the Constitution and the Armed Forces Act require a consequential adjustment for pensioners whenever serving personnel receive salary increases. This is not a matter of discretion. It is the law and government is violating it.
When the veterans finally met with Defence Minister Christopher Musa, they were told their demand was “receiving attention.” The minister said the adjustment must be “properly computed, adequately funded and implemented in accordance with extant approvals, regulations and due process.”
Nine months is enough time for computation and is enough time for funding. Nine months is enough time for approvals. The government has done none of these things. And now the government is moving ahead with another increase for serving personnel while the veterans have not received the first one.
These are men in their sixties, seventies to nineties. Some are even older. They cannot afford to wait another nine months. Some of them will not be alive in another nine months. The government knows this. This creates a particular feelings as though the government is waiting for them to die before they act.
Anas has warned that if their demands are not met, they will march to the Presidential Villa. That should not have to happen. These men did not wait when the country called. They did not ask for due process when the bullets were flying. They did not demand that their sacrifice be properly computed before they gave their lives. They served. They bled. Some of them buried their comrades with nothing but a salute and a prayer. And now, in their old age, this is what they get. A statement that their demand is “receiving attention.” A request for patience. A bureaucracy that moves at a glacial pace while the government finds billions for elections and nothing for them.
Where in the world do veterans have to beg for what is rightfully theirs? Where in the world do men who served their country have to gather outside their own ministry and be blocked by armed soldiers? Where in the world do those who defended the nation have to threaten to march to the seat of power before they are even heard?
In the United States, veterans receive automatic cost-of-living adjustments to their pensions. In the United Kingdom, military pensions are indexed to inflation and reviewed regularly. In South Africa, the government provides comprehensive healthcare and housing support to its veterans. In Ghana, veterans are given priority in public sector employment and receive free medical care. These countries do not wait for their veterans to protest. They do not ask them to be patient. They do not tell them their demands are “receiving attention.” They treat their veterans with the dignity and respect that comes from a nation that understands what it owes to those who defended it.
What is Nigeria’s excuse? What is the justification for treating these men as beggars rather than heroes?
This government has found money for everything except the men who kept this country together. It found N15.8 trillion for subsidy removal. It found billions for elections. It found billions for foreign trips. It found billions for luxury vehicles and constituency projects that never see the light of day. But for the men who made it possible for politicians to sit in their offices and make decisions, for the men who ensured that Boko Haram did not overrun the entire Northeast, for the men who patrol the creeks of the Niger Delta and the forests of the Northwest, there is nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The government must implement the pension adjustment immediately. It must be backdated to November 2025. The veterans must be included in the computation for the September 2026 adjustment. This is not complicated. The government knows what it needs to do. It has simply chosen not to do it.
If this government cannot do that, then it should stop pretending to honour these men. The wreaths, the speeches, the Armed Forces Remembrance Day ceremonies—all of it becomes hollow when the government refuses to pay them what they are owed. Honour without action is not honour. It is a performance. It is a mockery of everything these men sacrificed.
Every soldier currently in uniform is watching. They see what happens to those who served before them. And that is the warning this government must hear, not from us but from the men in uniform who still serve. They are watching. They are taking notes.
This government should avoid this embarrassment. It should avoid the shame of having its veterans march to the Presidential Villa.
These men should be celebrated. They should be honoured. They should be cared for. They should not have to beg. They should not have to protest. They should not have to be blocked by armed soldiers. They should not have to threaten to march to the Presidential Villa. They should not have to wait nine months for what is rightfully theirs. They should not have to wonder if they will live to see their benefits.
Nigeria can do better than this. Nigeria must do better than this.
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