No Retired Military Pension Funds Given To Defence Minister -Betta Edu

The Minister For Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation , Dr  Betta  Edu has dismissed the report flying around alleging that  a N25 Billion pension fund meant for Retired Military Pensioners from the Conditioner Cash Transfer Funds has been given to the Honourable Minister of Defence , Muhammed Badaru Abubakar.

 Reacting through a statement issued by Rasheed Zubair, the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Publicity, the Minister dismissed the report as false and malicious and urged the public to disregard the news as the Minister never contemplated such a move.

“For the records, at no time did the Honourable Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation give or contemplate giving funds meant for the Pensioners of the Retired Military personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces to Ministers or Ministries”

The Minister also explained the process of getting the Veterans and Pensioners verified before getting paid.

`’For the avoidance of doubt, 17,077 Veterans, and 264,560 Pensioners list were submitted to National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office
(NASSCO), in the third week of November and the process of in-person verification of the names submitted by the Nigerian Legion and the Pensioners group is still ongoing.

Similarly, the office responsible for the verification of the register under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is doing a painstaking job of working with the World Bank. All the captured retired veterans who meet the criteria and pensioners will be paid once the rigorous verification exercise is completed”

The statement also says all funds upon confirmation of the beneficiaries details will be sent directly to them through their bank accounts that are verifiable.