The military has started payment of pension to soldiers of the Nigerian Army who defected to fight for Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War.
Chairman of the Military Pensions Board, Air Commodore Mohammed Dabo, disclosed yesterday during the visit of the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, to the headquarters of the Board in Abuja.
According to Dabo, the board listed 160 ex-Biafra soldiers granted pardon by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 for the payment of their monthly pension.
He said: "The Federal Government in May 2000 granted Presidential pardon to personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces who defected to Biafra during the civil war. Their dismissal was therefore commuted to retirement."
Dabo added that "Subsequently, the Federal Government directed for their inclusion in the pension payroll which has generated a lot of irreconcilable problems."
He said: "For instance, the ex-service men are currently paid monthly pension on the bar; that is assuming that they are 35 years of service irrespective of actual level of service. One of the major contentious issues is the continuous receipt of additional list of Presidential pardoned soldiers published in various Federal Government gazettes."
Source: Daily Trust
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