WHEN Prince Adetokumbo Kayode, Minister of Defence, assumed office several months ago and undertook a familiarisation visit to the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, the media asked him what he and his Minister of State, Alhaji Murtala Shehu Yar’Adua intended to do about a very frightening issue but which is being neglected by government, which is the review of the terms and conditions of service (TACOS) of officers and soldiers of the Nigerian armed forces.

The reason for this question which was also asked his predecessor, Major General Godwin Abbe (rtd), and for which no satisfactory answer was given, is the underlying crisis that is threatening to blow out sooner or latter following underground grumblings and disillusionment among a sizeable majority of the military over what is perceived as ‘slave wages’ being paid to highly trained professionals who first and foremost, are to die for the nation if the need arises.

One decided to write on this issue in view of the consequences the continued neglect or silence over this burning issue is likely to generate if steps are not taken to immediately address the impending volcano.

There have been bitter complaints over salary, allowances, be it furniture, medical, hazards allowances, etc.

But the most vexing issues are those that have to do with retirements, age on rank, promotion, how long an officer should stay in service and the benefits derivable at the end of service. Why certain officers who for no fault of theirs are skipped when promotion boards sit and how retirements of officers can be better handled so that the rate at which some collapse, develop stroke or die when the signal comes out is minimised.

In line with addressing this vexed issues and having in mind that security reports may have forewarned of the dangers ahead if this trend remains untackled, the military hierarchy led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike and the Service Chiefs, Lt. General Dambasau, Vice Admiral Iko Ibrahim and Air Marshal Petirn, set up committees to look into the problems associated with the terms and conditions of service as is presently constituted.

After several meetings and counter-meetings, alignment and re-alignment of positions, a document recommending not a perfect but an improved TACOS that will stand the test of time, was arrived at and submitted to the Ministry of Defence for perusal, additional inputs and onward submission to the President and Commander-in-Chief. But till today, almost one year after, the MOD is sitting on it.

Soldiers in particular that make up over 60 per cent of the totality of the armed forces who expressed joy and expectation that at last an administration had come to assuage their sufferings of many years past were aware of the efforts of the Defence and services headquarters to redress the laxities and lacuna in the TACOS and were morally energized doing their jobs until the situation assumed inexplicable dimension.

While this matter is being discussed in hush tones due to the regimental nature of the military and there is bottled up anger threatening to burst, another issue that has come up and for which its threat to national security must not be overlooked, is that of military pensioners and the PENCOM, Contributory Pension Scheme.

It is a well known fact that the military as a body are among the highest contributors to the Contributory Pensions Scheme in the country and any attempt to pull out their billions from the scheme may spell doom for PENCOM and Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

But the reality on ground and after years of trial of the system by military pensioners, is that costly lapses have been discovered which contrary to the earlier canvassed positions, has made the ex-military officers, shortchanged, poorer and in some cases tricked of their retirement benefits.

In fact, while there is so much discrepancy and inconsistencies in the payment of benefits among the Pension Fund Administrators, serving officers who are afraid of falling victims of the current practice have cried out to the authorities, urging them to save their future by saving them from the strangle hold of the PFAs and PENCOM who they say are business concerns only interested in trading with their retirement benefits to their (military) detriment.

Of particular worry to the military pensioners and those serving is the fact that the policy of government which sees pensions benefits increase whenever salaries of public servants are increased, is not applicable to those whose money is with the Pension Fund Administrators or PENCOM.

This unfortunately has led to a situation whereby officers and soldiers no longer have gratuities to collect on retirement since the money now goes to PENCOM and PFAs who now determine what to give the retirees after removing (investing) a sizeable percentage of the money.

The clamour for the military to return to the existing pension scheme is further backed by information and research which has shown that in the whole world, it is only in Nigeria that its military are subjected to this system of partaking in a contributory pension scheme because the military like the Judiciary are given exemption in other countries.

Even Chile, the only South American country that operated the contributory system for some time, quickly reversed the decision when it saw the repercussion the programme had on its military.

It is against this background that at a recent public hearing on the plan to withdraw the Nigeria military from the contributory pension scheme, through an amendment bill sponsored by Oluwole Oke, Chairman, House Committee on Defence, a retired Airforce officer, Air Warrant Officer J. Torunarigha (rtd), presented a memo on the issue to the House of Representatives.

Mr.Kingsley Omonobi  is a staff of Vanguard Newspapers.