Some soldiers of the Nigerian army on Operation “Hadin Kai” in Adamawa State, Northeast Nigeria, have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over unpaid operational allowances.
The soldiers numbering 38 alleged that the commander of 23 Brigade, Brigadier General Mohammed Jibril Gambo has withheld their four months operational allowances.
According to them, they are being owed a total of N12,312,000 for four months operational allowances of N81,000 per month per soldier. This includes N40,000 operation, N30,000 feeding and N6,000 habit allowances.
They urged President Buhari, National Assembly, Ministry of Defence and Army headquarters to wade into the matter, to safeguard military professionalism.
“We’ve been dumped in the barracks without accommodation, without food and other basic necessities. We had to rent houses amongst civilians,” they lamented.
The petition seen by SaharaReporters further read in part, “We the Nigerian Army personnel that were inducted into operation Lafia Dole, as far back as 2013 have been in the operation theatre till date.
“We wish to appreciate the Army Superior Authority for providing everything necessary for us to discharge our duty professionally. We have not complained of any ill-treatment not until the present commander Brig. Gen. MJ Gambo took over command of the brigade (23 armour brigade Yola).
“We the soldiers, since 10 years after induction into the operation have not received our operational allowances (RCA, Feeding and habit allowances) due to us as of December 2022.”
The petition added, “The commander claimed that we have been pulled out of the operation, but our findings revealed otherwise; because up until date records from the finance contain allowances bearing our names.”
When contacted, Brigadier General Gambo admitted that “the soldiers were pulled out due to downsizing the operation”.
“Since they’ve been pulled out, they cannot be paid allowances for no operation done.
“They’re here in the barracks with us and within a week or so, they’ll be transported back to their various units,” he said.