Benefits: Biafra police officers protest underpayment MEMBERS of the Nigeria Police officers from the South-East and South-South states of the country, who served in Biafra during the ill-fated civil war and were formally retired following the presidential amnesty granted them on May 29, 2000, have cried out against the alleged underpayment of their retirement benefits.Maka Ndigbo gathered that the over 1,000 affected police officers have appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in order to ensure that justice is done to the case so as to bring their 14-year agitation for the payment of the retirement benefits to a glorious and early end.The retired officers alleged that the Police Pensions Office, Abuja, misinterpreted and misapplied the letters and spirit of the presidential amnesty by erroneously predicating the date of their retirement as taking effect from January 15, 1970 contrary to the Amnesty Provision that May 29, 2000 was the approved date of retirement. In a statement signed by the National Chairman of the Association of Retired War-Affected Police Officers South-East and South-South States of Nigeria (ARWAPO), Barrister Matthew Udeh, the retired police officers lamented that their members gratuities were grossly underpaid by the Police Pensions Office on account of the wrong interpretation of the presidential amnesty.They alleged that the affected officers that had so far received their entitlements were grossly underpaid monthly pensions while more than half of the 1,000 retired police officers were disqualified from earning their deserved pensions by the Police Pensions Office. They have not paid over 50 retired police officers any benefit whatsoever since payments started in 2007, they added. The association said that its delegation had pointed out to the Director-General, Pensions Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), that Military Pensions Authority interpreted the letters and spirit of the amnesty correctly and are paying ex-Biafran soldiers who are similarly covered by the presidential amnesty full retirement benefits by deeming each military officer retired on May 29, 2000 as having served for 35 years, by virtue of the amnesty.They, however, appealed to the PTDA DG to correctly interpret and apply the letters and the spirit of the amnesty as the military authorities had done and recomputed, and pay to the retired war-affected police officers or the next-of-kin of dead officers, accumulated arrears of balances of their full retirement benefits (gratuities and pensions).The retired officers also urged the PTAD to urgently compute and pay full retirement benefits to officers or their next-of-kin who have not been paid even a mite since payments started in 2007.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 23:22:50 +0000