Veterans demand ₦250,000 Minimum Wage for soldiers

Veterans demand ₦250,000 Minimum Wage for soldiers

A coalition of retired navy personnel has demanded the immediate implementation of the accepted ₦250,000 minimal salary for serving infantrymen. The veterans have accused the Federal authorities of deliberately stalling the execution of a indispensable pay adjustment consignment that was once handed by way of the national meeting and officially assented to via President Bola Tinubu.

The disagreement passed off in the course of an emergency veterans’ turn away attended by over 70 retired service members at the militia Headquarters Command Mess 1 in Abuja on Monday, July thirteen.

The retired officials expressed deep frustration over what they describe as a unexpected U-turn with the aid of defense authorities regarding the agreed pay scale. in keeping with the veterans, the country wide meeting reviewed local military pay scales in October 2025 and determined that Nigerian troops have been the lowest paid amongst several African international locations. In response, lawmakers passed a bill fixing ₦250,000 because the baseline monthly salary for the bottom-ranking soldier, inserting the required funding at once into the 2026 budget.

President Tinubu signed the bill into law in November 2025, directing that the implementation take impact with three months of backdated arrears. regardless of preliminary public declarations of gratitude from the Ministry of Defence and the provider Chiefs, the veterans allege that army management has recently denied information of the authorized earnings structure.

The scenario was similarly complex by means of a latest announcement from the Minister of Defence, who claimed the military minimal wage was increased to ₦one hundred,000. The veterans quickly clarified that the ₦a hundred,000 determine used to be truly the overall country wide minimal salary adjustment from 2024 and has surely no bearing on the devoted navy revenue review signed in November 2025.

throwback organizer Colonel harmless Azubike (retd.) defined the legislative background, noting that the Senate passed a invoice for an upward review of the pay of serving and retired army personnel, which the residence of Representatives concurred with. He stated that earlier than passing the consignment, a comparative look at of army pay scales in other African countries determined Nigeria’s to be ridiculously the lowest, which led the Senate to fix ₦250,000 as the minimal pay for the least-paid soldier and direct that the desired budget be protected inside the 2026 price range.

President Tinubu signed the consignment into regulation in November 2025, directing that the implementation take effect with 3 months of backdated arrears. Azubike cited that the President assented to the consignment and stated it would convey 3 months’ arrears from the date of signing, which used to be publicly introduced through the Presidency and broadly pronounced, and then the Ministry of Defence and the provider Chiefs time and again thanked the President and assured employees that payment would start soon.

even as the veterans have agreed to attend one week for a formal reaction from the protection headquarters, they emphasized that their plans for a non violent demonstration stay lively.

If the management fails to offer a fine timeline for the release of the funds, the retired employees graph to mobilize a chief protest at the Federal Ministry of Finance to bring the difficulty without delay to the president’s interest.