President Buhari has approved payment of pension to soldiers,
policemen and paramilitary officers, who were involved in the Biafra war
The veterans were dismissed from service for participating in the war,
which lasted between 1967 and 1970.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Pensions Transition Arrangement
Directorate (PTAD) announced that payment will commence on Friday,
October 20, in Enugu state.
“The general public would recall that
Nigeria witnessed an ugly civil war between July 1967 and January 1970
and as a result of that unfortunate period in our history, some members
of the armed forces, the Nigeria police and the paramilitary officers
who took part with the secessionist were dismissed from the service. The
dismissal of those officers was commuted to retirement in year 2000
through a presidential amnesty granted on 29th May, 2000 by the
administration of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo”.
“A verification exercise was conducted for the pardoned officers
by the defunct Police Pension Office and recently PTAD on one hand and
the Police Service Commission on the other. Despite the presidential
pardon and verification of these officers many of them remained unpaid
years after the pardon. However, the present administration under the
able leadership of president, C-in-C of the armed forces, Muhammadu
Buhari, GCFR, has graciously given approval for the payment of pension
entitlements to these officers and their next of kin. PTAD is commencing
the payment of pension benefits to the retired war affected police
officers on Friday 20th October, 2017 in Enugu. 162 officers will be
payrolled and 57 Next of Kin who have also not been paid their death
benefits will be paid in the first batch,” the statement read.