Nigerian Defence Headquarters Begins Payment Of Bonuses Of Soldiers Deployed To Gambia, Guinea-Bissau For ECOWAS Missions
the Defence Headquarters on Wednesday began the payment of a portion of bonuses owed to soldiers deployed to Guinea-Bissau and Gambia for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mission in 2023.
some of the soldiers were owed a significant amount of money – N9.2 million ($5,700) each in bonuses by the Army authorities.
The soldiers were deployed as part of the ECOWAS Stabilization Support Mission to restore peace and stability in the West African countries.
Specifically, 177 personnel were sent to Guinea-Bissau and over 100 to Gambia in June 2023, according to the sources. This mission is crucial for regional stability, and it’s alarming that the soldiers haven’t received their due bonuses.
Senegal and Ghana joined Nigeria in deploying troops for the ECOWAS mission, aimed at restoring stability in West Africa. Each soldier was entitled to a $950 monthly bonus from ECOWAS.
some Nigerian soldiers deployed for the mission had started receiving credit alerts for their bonuses.
The military sources said that soldiers who had never received anything from the army and those who were previously paid only three months’ bonuses have now been paid six months’ and three months’ bonuses.
This means that all the soldiers are currently owed six months’ worth of bonuses equally.
The source said: “Already when we were there (at Gambia and Guinea-Bissau for the ECOWAS mission), they paid us three months inside twelve months. So after we came back to Nigeria, one later, they now started paying another three months. That is six months. So that is six months they paid initially is not all of us that have received.
“Some are just seeing their six months now, so it still remains six months balance that they will balance us. Normally, they are supposed to pay us once. They aren’t even supposed to be paying us like this.”
“The ones they owed nine months before, they paid them three months now, all of us now remain six months,” another source said.
