FG Begins N18bn Payment to 2,700 Ex-Nigeria Airways Workers After 20 Years

• The Federal Government has commenced the payment of N18bn in outstanding severance benefits to 2,700 former Nigeria Airways workers, more than 20 years after the national carrier was liquidated.

The Federal Government has commenced the payment of N18bn in outstanding severance benefits to 2,700 former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways, more than two decades after the national carrier was liquidated.

The 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.

Oyedele said 2,100 former workers in batches one to seven had already received their payments, while another 600 beneficiaries in batches eight and nine had been cleared for payment.

“Altogether, this represents N18bn in benefits for 2,700 former workers,” he said.

The minister said some of the affected workers had grown old while waiting for their outstanding entitlements, while others had died, leaving their families to pursue the payments.

“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.

According to the minister, the payment followed a directive from President Bola Tinubu to resolve the long-standing obligation owed to the former workers.

Oyedele acknowledged that the settlement could not fully make up for more than two decades of waiting but said the government had chosen to confront the inherited obligation rather than allow it to remain unresolved.

“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 added.

The minister said the payment was part of the Federal Government’s wider effort to clear verified inherited obligations, including outstanding payments owed to pensioners and indigenous contractors.

He explained that the Nigeria Airways payment process involved extensive verification, including biometric capture and validation of beneficiaries’ personal and banking information, to prevent fraudulent claims.

Oyedele said additional verification would be carried out to resolve cases involving outdated information, incorrect bank details and deceased beneficiaries whose next of kin or estates would need to complete the required processes.

Responding to questions about whether the payments had been adjusted for inflation after more than 20 years, Oyedele said the government was settling the obligations based on the amounts that had been documented and verified.

He acknowledged that inflation had significantly reduced the value of the money over the years but said there was no provision for inflation adjustments in the settlement.

The minister explained that the payments were being made in batches because the government did not want verified beneficiaries to continue waiting while other claims were still being validated.

He added that the benefits covered different categories of former Nigeria Airways employees, with no distinction between junior and senior workers.

For beneficiaries who died before receiving their entitlements, Oyedele said payments would be made to their documented next of kin or other eligible beneficiaries after the necessary legal processes had been completed.

Beyond the former Nigeria Airways workers, Oyedele disclosed that the Federal Government had also paid outstanding obligations to more than 12,000 indigenous contractors as part of efforts to clear accumulated debts.

He said the government initially prioritised smaller contractors owed N50m or less before extending payments to those with verified claims of up to N100m.

According to him, larger claims running into billions of naira could be addressed separately through negotiations and instruments such as promissory notes.

The minister said the approach was designed to prioritise small businesses that depended on the payments to meet salaries and other immediate financial obligations.

Oyedele also warned contractors against paying commissions or inducements to government officials to facilitate the payment of verified claims, describing such demands as illegal.

He said the government was also taking steps to prevent another accumulation of unpaid obligations by making the national budget more realistic and ensuring that capital expenditure commitments were backed by identifiable sources of funding.

He said, “We will do our best to ensure that the accumulated obligations of the past do not repeat themselves.”

The minister apologised to the former Nigeria Airways workers for the prolonged delay, stressing that the payments represented their legitimate entitlements and were not favours from the government.