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NigeriaExchange Special Report
The Pension Saga

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LAGOS
September 4, 2001

Having been tipped by a colleague, I decided to go to the Directorate of Military Pensions at Ikoyi to see the place for myself.

To my dismay on getting there, I saw about 3,000 men, including women and children, tired, hungry, worn out, ragged, sick and almost despaired of life. The problem was not tough to figure out - Pension.

At the instance of government's announcement, they had all come from all the states of the federation, the North being the majority, to receive their rewards for service to the nation.

"Some of us came here in December 2000", said one of their spokesmen, John Andu, while some others joined them in January and July 2001, respectively. "We are refugees", he went further, and from the look of things nobody cares for them expect for some benevolent Nigerians who bring them food from time to time.

But what quantity of food would do for a crowd as large as they are?. They sleep in carton mats in the open air, left to the mercy of the weather. For how long will this continue, nobody knows. "We have fought to keep the nation one, many of us are dead already, and we are not afraid to die more" lamented John Andu. He further revealed that their issue had been reported to the President, via the the Minister of Defence, but nothing seem to be coming out of it.

However, some of them looked undaunted as they combed the streets of Ikoyi and swam its surrounding waters in search of wood, which they usually sold in order to feed. "We have left our families, and we don't have transport to go back" cried some of them who were willing to go home with or without their pension.

This is a call on the government of President Obasanjo to look into the plight of these pensioners turned refugees, separated from their families because of pension.

They are our own.

 

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This NgEX! Special Report combines eyewitness
accounts by NgEX! reporters and photographers.