Boko Haram: Reps seek prompt payment of benefits for dead military personnel

Boko Haram: Reps seek prompt payment of benefits for dead military personnel

By Our Reporter  on November 4, 2015   National
• Summon JTF, NNPC, AGIP over illegal refineries
From Kemi Yesufu and Fred Itua, Abuja
House of Representatives yesterday called on the Federal Government to ensure the immediate payment of benefits of military personnel killed while fighting Boko Haram.
 The House also urged other security agencies to expedite action towards paying all entitlements and benefits of dead personnel to their families.
 Mr. Johnson Agbonayinma who sponsored the motion entitled: Call on the Armed Forces and other security agencies to pay entitlements of service personnel who died while fighting Boko Haram insurgents, decried the fact that months after the deaths of military personnel, their families were yet to be paid their entitlements.
 Agbonayinma, who singled out the case of one Sergeant Moses Osarenkhoe, who was attached to 55 Signal, noted that his dependants and other affected families have been put through hardship even as he observed that delayed payment to families could dampen the morale of officers battling the insurgents.
“Many months after the deaths of these heroes, no payment of entitlements have been made to their families, thereby leaving their spouses and children in desperate situations” he said.
 The lawmakers also called on the Federal Government to award scholarships to the children of deceased security personnel.
 Meanwhile, the House has also commenced investigation into activities of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta area with regard to the burning and destruction of equipment seized from illegal refineries operators.
 The House on Thursday, August 6 resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate destruction of the illegal refineries.
 The committee was also mandated by the House to investigate the fire outbreak in Azuuama community in Bayelsa State on July 9, which was allegedly caused by the use of dilapidated infrastructure and equipment by Nigeria Agip Oil Company, which resulted in the death of 14 persons.
 Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Sule Nasir Garo (APC Kano) disclosed that the committee has invited the JTF, management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), as well as the affected communities, to present their positions on the issue.