TWO decades after the controversial liquidation of former national carrier, the Nigeria Airways, by the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the over 4,000 workers of the defunct carrier in Nigeria are yet to be fully settled.
While their counterparts in Europe and America were almost immediately paid their full entitlements, the former workers in Nigeria and the West Coast have been subjected to trauma as part of their entitlement is still being withheld.
As the years go by, the former workers, who are now retirees, have been faced with another challenge of getting listed on the government’s policy of workers entitled to pensions for life, having worked with the former national carrier.
The retirees, who are in the news again, are presently begging the government to place them on the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) like their counterparts in other sectors of the economy.
The retirees attributed their call for their placement on the DBS to the belief that it would enable them to receive their pensions for life in line with the promises made by the government.
According to a letter issued and signed by the Chairman, Stephen Onuh and Vice Chairman of the Association of Airways Retired Workers of Nigeria (AARWN), Ahmed Sulugambari, the retirees are seeking an audience with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, to express their displeasure over the uncooperative attitude of some workers in the ministry towards their plight and to prevail on the minister to facilitate their inclusion on the DBS.
The retirees, who prior to the airline’s liquidation were on the DBS scheme but were removed from it by the government after the liquidation, have argue that pensioners are never paid off but are paid till they die and that the N45 billion severance package they received was part-payment of their accumulated 10-year pension arrears.
Besides seeking financial compensation, the retirees, who said they are also fighting for their dignity and the promise of a secure future, have called on the government to integrate them into the monthly pension payroll of the Federal Government as recommended by the Senate and the House of Representatives in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
In a letter dated December 5, 2023 and addressed to President Bola Tinubu, cited how they were on the monthly pension payroll before the liquidation of the airline in September 2004, with a retired letter.
The former workers of the defunct national carrier are, therefore, appealing to the government to mandate the Pensions Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to handle the payment of whatever is approved for them, while also integrating the existing pensioners before liquidation into the monthly payroll.
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