Widows of soldiers killed in action live in hardship as they cannot collect their late husband’s benefits.
Bolajoko, the widow of Oladapo Joseph, a senior commander in the Nigerian Army, continues to endure governmental indifference.
They married in 1983 at Ilorin, Kwara State’s capital. Before entering the military in 1991, Joseph taught for eight years.
“I already had two children for him before he was encouraged to join the army because the money he was making from his teaching job was not enough to take care of the family,” Ms Bolajoko said.
In 1998, Joseph, with the army number 91NA/32/4128, joined roughly 700 Nigerian troops sent to Sierra Leone.
The widow said her husband came home two years later with heart problems and died as a corporal aged 42. Ms Bolajoko was encouraged by the Nigerian Army to process her husband’s gratuity as his next of kin.
Nine years went by, and she had yet to receive a single payment. Ms Bolajoko and her children have been living in hardship after her husband died.
Experts and senior military personnel said that the issue is not confined to spouses of fallen troops. They said most pensioners had to experience indignities to get their gratuities and pensions.
“It is a big mess causing sleepless nights to many people, particularly retired soldiers. Just like the military treats widows, they do not care about many retirees either. The problem is mostly administrative and boils down to corruption in the military,” Owolabi Jimoh, a retired soldier, said.
