Senate slams military for delaying insurance payments to fallen officers’ families
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Senate, through its Committee on Code of Conduct, Ethics, and Public Petitions, expressed strong disapproval on Tuesday regarding delays in the payment of insurance benefits to deceased and retired military personnel.
The Senate noted that there are currently 174 families who have yet to receive the entitlements of their deceased relatives, an action described as “unacceptable.”
In a dramatic turn, the committee prevented Nigerian Air Force officers, led by Wing Commander Mohammed Saleh, from arresting Master Warrant Officer Rukayat Ajoke Ishola, who had petitioned the Senate about the non-payment of her late husband’s insurance benefits.
Ishola also alleged mistreatment by NAF authorities following the death of her husband, Warrant Officer Daramola Taiwo, in April 2016.
The Senate’s discontent over the delay in payments followed Ishola’s petition against the NAF. Ishola alleged that her husband’s insurance benefits were deliberately withheld and that her child was denied educational support from the NAF, unlike other children of deceased military personnel.
She further claimed that after her husband’s death, certain officers mistreated her to such an extent that she was compelled to abandon her duty post for her safety.
She stated, “I was forced and traumatised to go away without leave (AWOL) because my late husband’s insurance benefits were deliberately not paid. My child was denied school fees payment by the NAF, in line with military tradition, and I faced unwarranted persecution and life-threatening postings.”
When Ishola attempted to submit recorded conversations of alleged sexual molestation involving the officers she accused, the committee instead called on the NAF representative to respond to her claims.
Wing Commander Mohammed Saleh, the Director of Legal Services for the NAF, defended the delay, stating that it was not deliberate and that 174 families in the Air Force were experiencing similar delays.
He said, “The petitioner lied in all the allegations. The delay in insurance benefits payment does not affect her late husband alone but about 174 other families. Her child is not entitled to school fees support because her husband did not die in active service. Allegations of maltreatment are unfounded.”
When asked by the Committee Chair, Senator Neda Imasuen, to clarify “active service,” Saleh explained that only personnel who died in battle or in the field were considered to have died in active service prior to a regulation change in 2021.
The committee members, visibly frustrated by Saleh’s statements, condemned the prolonged delay in payments.
The Chair declared that the Senate would issue a strong letter to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, urging immediate action to resolve the matter.
The committee’s recommendations included facilitating the payment of insurance benefits to the petitioner’s family, incorporating the deceased’s child as a beneficiary for school fees, and providing the petitioner with an honourable exit from the NAF along with all due retirement benefits.
