Oyedele,Finance minister
Federal Government has commenced the payment of N18 billion in outstanding severance benefits to 2,700 former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways, more than two decades after the airline was liquidated.Nigeria news
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele disclosed this on Friday during a press briefing at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja.
Minister Oyedele said 2,100 former workers in Batches 1 to 7 had been paid, while another 600 beneficiaries in Batches 8 and 9 had been cleared for payment.
“Altogether, this represents N18bn in benefits for 2,700 former workers,” he said.
The minister said the payment followed a directive from President Bola Tinubu to resolve the outstanding obligations to the former workers.
He said some of the affected workers had grown old while waiting for their benefits, while others had died, leaving their families to pursue the entitlements.
“For more than two decades, following the liquidation of Nigeria Airways, many former employees have waited for their outstanding severance benefits. Some have grown old waiting. Some have sadly passed away, leaving their families to pursue what was legitimately due to them,” Oyedele said.
Nigeria Airways plane
He said the government recognised the long delay but considered it necessary to settle the outstanding obligations.
“We recognise that no payment today can fully compensate for more than two decades of waiting, but it is important that government confronts these long-standing obligations rather than allowing them to remain unresolved for another generation,” he said.
Oyedele said the payment followed a verification exercise involving biometric capture and validation of personal and banking information to ensure that the funds reached legitimate beneficiaries.
He said further verification would be carried out for beneficiaries whose records contain outdated information or incorrect bank details.
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For beneficiaries who died before receiving their entitlements, Oyedele said payments would be made to their documented next of kin or estates after the required legal processes had been completed.
The Director of the Presidential Initiative and Continuous Audit Department Seldam Dangin said the ministry was preparing a second phase of the verification exercise for eligible beneficiaries whose records could not be processed during the first phase.
According to him, the exercise will include updating beneficiary information, additional biometric verification and correction of banking details.
The mop-up exercise is expected to begin by the end of September or early October, subject to final arrangements.
Responding to questions on whether the benefits had been adjusted for inflation, Oyedele said the government was settling the obligations based on the amounts documented and verified.
He acknowledged that inflation had reduced the value of the money over the years but said there was no provision for inflation adjustment in the settlement.
Oyedele said the payment was part of the government’s wider effort to clear verified inherited obligations, including outstanding payments to pensioners and indigenous contractors.
He said the government had also paid outstanding obligations to more than 12,000 indigenous contractors, initially prioritising smaller contractors with verified claims of N50 million or less.
The minister said larger claims could be addressed separately through negotiations and instruments such as promissory notes.
Oyedele warned contractors against paying commissions or inducements to government officials to facilitate payment of verified claims.
He said the government was also working to prevent the accumulation of unpaid obligations by making the budget more realistic and ensuring that capital expenditure commitments were backed by identifiable funding sources.
“We will do our best to ensure that the accumulated obligations of the past do not repeat themselves,” he said.
Oyedele apologised to former Nigeria Airways workers for the delay, stressing that the payments were their entitlements and not favours from the government.
QEDNG
