The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has approved the payment of debarment allowance for retired military personnel.
The military veterans, under the aegis of Coalition of Concerned Veterans, had embarked on a nationwide protest on January 5, with a vow to disrupt the celebration of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day on January 15, but suspended the protest following the intervention of the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retd.).
In April, the retired military personnel vowed to resume their suspended protest, following the inability of the Federal Government to meet their demand.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Kana, said the President had approved payment of the allowance.
He said, “the President has given approval for reform of the Ministry of Defence into our own Pentagon, in this case, they will be the deployment of senior military officers working alongside civilian staff.
“We will not be directly involved in Operations but we will handle the policy aspect of the Ministry of Defence to ensure the best for our troops.
The president has given approval for the establishment of the veteran’s services department in the ministry for retired soldiers.
“Recently, the President unanimously approved the debarment allowance for all veterans. For the veterans, I think better days are ahead”.
Kana also said the Ministry of Defense was undergoing a reform to take the shape of the Pentagon.
He added, “We are also reforming our health services to see to the well-being of personnel. Therefore, we are reforming our health services department to provide quality health service to our personnel.
“We are also reforming education, we are going to reform education in the command and secondary schools. Armed personnel have children and they have to go to school and that is our responsibility”.