Nigeria's stranded ex-soldiers

Former soldiers have gone to Lagos from across Nigeria

By Sam Olukoya in Lagos

Four thousand retired military men are dying from poverty, disease and hunger at the roadside in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.

The retired soldiers, who have travelled to Lagos from various parts of Nigeria, have been sleeping in shacks made of cellophane sheets, disused fibre bags and cardboard since October last year.

I have watched many people fall sick and die a slow and painful death in the tents

Samuel Asor

The men have not been paid their pensions in the 22 years since they retired from the army.

Tired of travelling to Lagos for the money, they have now decided to camp on the roadside near the army pensions office until their dues are paid.

'Burning sensation'

With no money to buy food and medication and as a result of anxiety, exposure to rain, cold and mosquitoes, many of them have fallen ill and died.

"It is as if we are in hell here," says Samuel Asor, who described the roadside shacks as a death camp.

"I have watched many people fall sick and die a slow and painful death in the tents," he said.

The pensioners are living in shacks made from plastic sheeting

Fifty pensioners have died this way since the shack camp was set up.

Many more are lying ill in the shacks. "I lie down all day with a burning sensation in my heart, stomach and chest," says Kiotur Iwher, who has been ill for six weeks.

The pensioners say that, but for humanitarian groups that are helping them with drugs and food, they would all have died.

Combating hunger

Many of them have taken to begging to complement what they get from the humanitarian groups.

Some others have taken to smoking locally processed tobacco leaves, which they say help them cope with hunger by reducing their appetite.

They said the leaves also keeps them warm in the face of the rains and cold weather.

We have told him we have nowhere to go. If he wants to kill us he is free to do so

Gbana Gani

Restlessness and emotional problems caused by the death of fellow pensioners and the thought of their families back home are also being suppressed with the tobacco leaves.

"When we have emotional problems we smoke tobacco leaves and it makes us sleep," Mr Asor said.

One other problem for the pensioners is the hostility in the neighbourhood.

Exclusive area

Ikoyi Island, where they are camping, is a neighbourhood exclusively for the very rich in Lagos.

The rich here feel rather uncomfortable with thousands of poor men squatting behind their high walls.

One rich man has already asked the former soldiers squatting outside his mansions to leave.

Lagos elites object to the shacks on Ikoyi Island

"We have told him we have nowhere to go. If he wants to kill us he is free to do so," said an angry Gbana Gani.

The plight of the pensioners reflects what pensioners in Nigeria go through to collect their entitlement.

Due to bureaucracy and corruption, they are often not paid for several years, with pensions officials telling them that their names are missing from the payment list or that they are listed as dead.

Staying put

In the case of the military pensioners, authorities blame the delayed payment on inadequate release of funds by the government.

Rear Admiral Peter Ebhaleme, Chief of Administration at the Defence Headquarters, says the pensions arrears will be paid before the end of the year.

But the pensioners camping on the street are hardly impressed with this assurance.

They have vowed to stay put, whatever hardships they face.

"I will remain here until I am paid. I don't care if I die here," says Mr Gani.