Thirteen years after its liquidation and closure to airspace, the Federal Government has cleared the entitlements owed to ex-employees of the defunct national career, Nigeria Airways.

“Every ex-employee of the defunct national carrier, whose name is captured in the book of the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) has been paid as of this month,” a source said.

Checks by this medium on Wednesday at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning showed that the few employees captured in the second batch payment schedule of PICA, a department in ministry, given the task of handling one off payment for the ex employees have been paid. The Chairman, Nigeria Airways’ Pensioners, Comrade Sam Nzene, in a phone conversation confirmed that his colleagues had all been paid.

“We have been cleared; everybody has been paid the amount due to him or her. We don’t have problem again,” he said, when this medium called his line for payment update in respect of former airways staff. A staff of PICA, who chose not to be quoted, also corroborated the payment position.

“Everybody has been paid. By this month’s end, we are winding up everything about airways. We have almost exhausted the remaining 50 per cent funds budgeted for the second phase. The few people remaining are less than 20. As soon as we sort them out this week, we should wind down this operation by month end. We can’t permanently be on this matter.

“We have been on this assignment in the past three years. We have been to the UK, organised verification, data capturing of ex-staff across designated cities in Nigeria,” he said.

Contacted, Media Assistant to the Minister, Mallam Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, who had promised to check and revert with official position didn’t get back as promised.

The Nigerian Airways ceased operation in 2003 after years of perpetual failure amidst depletion of aircrafts in the fleet. The government had been dilly dallying on the one off final payment due to ex – employees at home and overseas until 2018. In 2018, the Federal Government approved the sum of N22.68 billion for the payment of retirement benefits to former workers of liquidated Nigeria Airways Ltd.

(New Telegraph)

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