Golden Exit: The Costly Comfort Of Nigeria’s Retiring Service Chiefs
By MAHMOOD MALIK MUSA (M.M.M.) IBRAHIM
WHEN public service becomes a gateway to luxury, accountability often takes a back seat. The recently revealed retirement benefits for Nigeria’s outgoing service chiefs once again spotlight the extravagant perks that accompany high office — even as ordinary citizens continue to grapple with economic hardship.
According to the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS) 2024, signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, each retired Chief of Defence, Army, Navy, and Air Staff will leave office with a bulletproof SUV, a Prado Jeep, or equivalent vehicles, all to be maintained and replaced every four years at taxpayers’ expense. They will also receive $20,000 annually for medical treatment abroad, five domestic aides, nine guards, and a small convoy of service drivers and orderlies. Their privileges include retaining military uniforms, firearms, and even ceremonial escorts.
For officers of lower ranks — Lieutenant-Generals, Major-Generals, Brigadier-Generals — the benefits are similarly lush, with SUVs, house staff, and foreign medical allowances ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 per year.
This gilded farewell contrasts sharply with the dire conditions endured by many rank-and-file soldiers — men and women who risk their lives daily in poorly equipped battle zones across the country. The gap between the comfort of the high command and the struggle of the foot soldier has never been so stark.
A Costly Transition
President Tinubu’s decision to replace the service chiefs marks a strategic reshuffle aimed at refreshing the nation’s security leadership. Yet the financial implications are far-reaching. With over 60 senior generals expected to retire in line with military hierarchy, the cost of these retirement packages will run into billions of naira — funds that could arguably be channeled toward training, equipment, and welfare for serving personnel.
While the government justifies the benefits as standard protocol for years of meritorious service, critics argue that the scale of entitlement reflects an entrenched culture of elite privilege, divorced from the realities of national sacrifice.
Reform or Reward?
Supporters of the president see the move as a strategic realignment, with new appointees expected to inject energy into Nigeria’s faltering security architecture. As Chief Okoi Obono-Obla observed, Tinubu’s shake-up “reflects a deeper reform mindset and geopolitical balancing.” Yet beyond the politics lies a moral question: should public service, even at the highest level, guarantee such luxury after retirement — especially in a country where pensioners queue endlessly for stipends that barely sustain them?
As the Senate prepares to screen the new service chiefs, the nation must look beyond uniforms and ranks to the principles that underlie public office: service, accountability, and equity. True reform begins not with reshuffles or expensive farewells, but with a commitment to fairness in how the state rewards those who serve.
Until then, Nigeria’s generals may continue to ride off into retirement — bulletproof and cushioned, while the rest of the country soldiers on unprotected.
