New military pensions board chair Osifo vows to end delays in veterans' pay
- Maj-Gen Julius Osifo has taken over as chairman of the Military Pensions Board from AVM Mikhail Abdulraheem.
- He promised faster, simpler payment of pensions, gratuities and death benefits to veterans and bereaved families.
- The handover follows a protest by retired officers over how their entitlements were calculated.
The Military Pensions Board has a new chairman. Major-General Julius Osifo took charge on Wednesday at a handover ceremony in Abuja, replacing Air Vice Marshal Mikhail Abdulraheem.
Osifo used the occasion to promise that retired soldiers and the families of those killed in action will no longer wait long for their money. He said pensions, gratuities and death benefits would be paid faster and with less paperwork.
His pledge comes about a week after retired officers shut the board's main gate in protest, complaining that their entitlements had been wrongly worked out. The retired officers, led by a retired Lieutenant-Colonel, Innocent Azubuike, arrived as early as 8:30am and called on the President to step in. A meeting that followed ended in a shouting match and no agreement, according to Daily Trust.
Daily Trust reported that the faceoff embarrassed the military high command, the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (Rtd), and the Presidency. The board's spokesman, Squadron Leader Aliyu Mohammed, could not be reached for comment on the reasons for the change.
Punch and Vanguard reported the handover as the completion of Abdulraheem's tenure. Osifo is the 26th officer to lead the board.
What the new chairman promised
Osifo said his priority is to make payments "prompt, accessed with seamless ease, less cumbersome, less bureaucratic", while making sure only genuine beneficiaries are paid.
He spoke about his time in Operation Hadin Kai, the military operation in the North-East, saying he saw how unpaid death benefits hurt families. Delays, he said, dishonour soldiers killed in action and weaken the morale of troops still fighting.
To fix this, he plans to use technology, work more closely with the army, navy and air force to find beneficiaries early, and speed up the processing of claims. He also promised to train and motivate the board's staff.
Osifo thanked the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Waidi Shaibu, for his appointment, and the Chief of Defence Staff and Minister of Defence for approving it. He also thanked his predecessor, who is his coursemate, for his service.
Abdulraheem, for his part, urged the staff to give his successor the same support they gave him. "The mandate of this Board is greater than any individual," he said, adding that its success depends on teamwork and focus on pensioners and their next of kin.
What happens next
Veterans will be watching to see whether the promises turn into money in their accounts. The board has not said when the complaints raised at last week's protest will be resolved.
