The Military Pensions Board (MPB) started paying Security Debarment Allowance (SDA) to qualified military retirees and the beneficiaries of pensioners who have passed away on Thursday.
Rear Admiral Saburi Lawal, the board chairman, said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
According to Lawal, the payment was made in response to President Muhammadu Buhari's consent for the SDA to be given to retirees who were initially not covered by the program's implementation date of November 9, 2017.
He added that it was also consistent with the decision made at the subsequent tripartite meetings between representatives from the veteran associations, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Finance.
He claims that the board has started paying the first and second instalments, which cover the first and second quarters.
The beneficiaries, according to Lawal, were military retirees listed in the MPB database who left their jobs prior to November 9, 2017, deceased retirees who were still alive at the time the Manual of Financial Administration (MAFA) 2017 was signed, and non-pensionable retirees who left their jobs prior to November 9, 2017, but only received gratuities.
According to him, the SDA was determined by multiplying the number of years spent in the services by 10% of the retirees' basic annual pay at the time of retirement.
In order to receive their benefits, he asked all affected military retirees and NOKs of the deceased service members to get in touch with their banks.
The Chairman expressed his gratitude to President Buhari for his assistance to military retirees and the NOKs of fallen service members. (NAN)