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By: Okosun Dennis
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance (MoF), Alhaji Aliyu Ahmed and other officials have snubbed representatives of Military veterans and refused to attend a meeting fixed to address concomitant issues delaying the payment of Security Debarment Allowance (SDA) to retired military veterans after a month President Mohammedu Buhari approved N136 billion for payments.
It was learnt that in a meeting by representatives of veterans led Air Commodore Femi Oguntuyi (retd), at the Ship House on Monday, 12th December, 2022, and the subsequent meeting fixed for Tuesday with the officials of Ministry of Finance (MoF), the PM shunned the veterans as they failed to meet their representatives.
According to the spokesperson, SDA Technical Committee, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, said that MoF failed to honour the meeting and called on veterans across the country to be “on standby for comprehensive update and further actions depending on the outcome” of other meetings.
He further explained that a rescheduled meeting for Tuesday could not hold after they waited for hours with the team leader, Air Cdre Femi Oguntuyi (retd).
However, “At exactly 1856 hours, a message from the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Aliyu Ahmed, came in from where they were said to be defending the 2023 budget.
The message read: “Come back tomorrow please We are still here at the Senate.”
It would be recalled that during Monday’s meeting, SDA Technical Committee had exonerated Ministry of Defence of any blame with failure to pay the Security Debarment Allowance (SDA) to the veterans after President, Mohammedu Buhari announced the approval during the 2022/23 Emblem Appeal Week launch in Abuja of N136 billion to upset what they were owed as a result.
They noted that their “findings, with documentary evidences has completely exonerated the Ministry of Defence of any blame,” adding that they would “imbibe the character of exhaustive negotiation to justify our actions.”
Stressing that, “There’s absolutely no wisdom in wasting your bullets on a war that could have been resolved without firing a shot,” Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts reiterated.
However, the veterans have accepted the adjustment to meet them and have vowed to honour the meeting as scheduled by MoF on Wednesday.
