Vexatious Luxurious Benefits for Retired Generals

With the hunger, widespread poverty, and economic hardship in the land, as well as the ailing Nigerian economy, many Nigerians believe there is everything wrong with President Bola Tinubu’s recent approval of the retirement package for retiring military generals that includes $20,000 for foreign medical treatment, bulletproof SUVs, and cooks, among other benefits, for service chiefs and generals.

The approval of the package, which is contained in the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS) and announced on December 16, 2024 on social media by the Special Assistant to the President on social media, Dada Olusegun, shows that vehicles will be replaced every four years and maintained by the military. They will also receive a Peugeot 508, or a similar backup vehicle.

Upon retirement, the generals will enjoy additional luxurious benefits, including domestic aides and residential guards. Retired lieutenant generals and their equivalents will also enjoy international and local medical treatment worth up to $20,000 annually.

Besides, each retiring service chief will get five domestic aides, including two cooks, two stewards, and a civilian gardener, plus an aide-de-camp or security officer.

The most vexatious is the foreign currency approved for their medical care when efforts should be geared towards strengthening the naira and ending medical tourism.

 Introducing this humongous package at a time when the military is being given a huge defence budget amid hardship and fiscal challenges, makes it totally distasteful. That we are talking about  the same generals that cannot end insurgency, banditry, kidnapping in the country, is most depressing.

This is also coming at a time when retired non-commissioned soldiers and other ranks still queue day and night waiting for their pensions and gratuities to be paid with some of them collapsing while waiting to get their pensions.

If retired generals enjoy these humongous benefits, what is the fate of other Nigerians who distinguished themselves in the Nigeria Police, DSS, Customs, Immigration, teaching profession, civil service and other organisations?  

All these benefits for military generals show that some of the so-called efforts to cut the costs of governance, strengthen the naira, and stop Nigerians from seeking medical attention abroad are mere lip service.