Twenty years after years the former national carrier, Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL), stopped flight operations, the federal government disclosed at the weekend that it would put closure to the severance benefits of its former workers.

The move is coming 19 years after the carrier was liquidated in 2004 during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who disclosed this at an Aviation Stakeholders’ Forum in Lagos, said the federal government was already making arrangements to offset the last tranche of monies owed workers of defunct Nigeria Airways Limited.

Keyamo said the government had taken the matter up and the ex-workers would start getting the balance of their severance pay.

The exercise was flagged off four years ago by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA).

Nigerian Airways ceased operation in 2003 following the depletion of aircraft in the fleet.

In 2018, the federal government approved the sum of N22.68 billion for the payment of retirement benefits to former workers of liquidated Nigerian Airways Ltd.

The amount approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari was about 50 percent of the N45.3 billion total entitlements of the former workers of the company.

An outstanding retirement benefit in the sum of N78 billion was initially submitted to the government as the entitlement for ex-workers of Nigerian Airways.

The sum was pruned down after a verification exercise conducted by PICA and other relevant stakeholders in line with the condition of service of the liquidated Nigerian Airways Ltd.

The sum of N45 billion was agreed as the total retirement benefits to the affected staff.

The payments were carried out in two phases essentially due to a paucity of funds.

The first batch’s payment was effected in 2019. (The Nation)