Nigeria Airways Pensioners hold finance minister hostage

Pensioners of the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) yesterday held Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed and the Permanent Secretaries hostage over the non-payment of their entitlements.

The aggrieved retirees said they were asked to come to the ministry for verification and eventual payment of their benefits being handled by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) domiciled in the ministry of finance.  Many of them said they arrived at the ministry from their home states on Sunday and that as at yesterday, nobody had come to attend to them from the ministry.

Speaking to journalists on why they had to block the gate and prevent the finance minister and others from leaving the premises, Sam Nzene told reporters that they missed out on the first tranche of payment “although to no fault of the government” but they were asked to come back for data capturing.

Lamenting that “no arrangement have been made for our verification so far”, he added that they contacted the consultant handling the disbursement of the entitlement “but he refused to come because he has neither been paid nor his contract regularised.”

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After waiting from two days, without anybody attending to them, the aggrieved pensioners barricaded the Ahmadu Bello Way entrance of the ministry by 4.30pm yesterday to block the minister and others from driving out of the premises.

The Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor tried to calm the angry NAL workers but to no avail. She left after her intervention failed.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters Senator Ita Enang, the Commissioner for Insurance Mohammed Kari, the Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO) and others all witnessed the protest.

Around 6:45pm, Nzene directed the protesters to proceed to the auditorium, that the government has agreed to begin the verification, but the retirees divided themselves into two.

A group stayed back to sustain the preasure.

On October 15, last year, the government kicked-off the final verification and payment of N22.6 billion entitlements to all former staff of the defunct NAL. The long-awaited payment was to last for one week and hold simultaneously in the three regional hubs of Lagos, Kano and Enugu.

The “beneficiaries are expected to come along with the following documents to the centres: Letter of Appointment, Letter of Confirmation, Letter of Last Promotion, Letter of Retirement, NAL Identity Card, Other Means of Identification (National ID Card, International Passport, Driver’s License, etc), Particulars of Bank Account: A cheque slip or statement of Bank Account, Letter of Administration to be presented by Next-of-Kin (NOKs) in the case of deceased beneficiaries. Beneficiaries will be subjected to biometric Data Capture; and hence notice will be placed at the venue and specific date for capturing of each beneficiary will be indicated.”  The Federal government had approved N22.68 billion for the ex-workers of the defunct national carrier.

Speaking in Abuja during her maiden meeting with the ex-workers after resumption as Finance minister, Mrs. Ahmed said: “Some pending fiscal issues in the aviation and education sectors were immediately brought to my attention. I took it as a challenge to quickly address key issues regarding the settlement of existing claims in both of these sectors.

“Consequent upon this, I am happy to inform you that Mr. President has graciously approved the sum of N22.68 billion and N20 billion to aviation and education sectors respectively.”

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the release of N42.68 billion for workers in the aviation and education sectors. N22.68 billion was for the settlement of outstanding retirement benefits due to the ex-workers of the Nigeria Airways while the balance N20 billion is for the immediate release to public universities for their revitalisation schemes.

Mrs. Ahmed noted that the initial submission regarding the retirement benefits of ex-workers of Nigeria Airways limited in liquidation was N78 billion.  This amount, she said ‘was verified by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) and other relevant stakeholders in line with the conditions of service  of NAL and other extant rules and regulations, at the end of the verification, the sum of N45 billion was agreed as the total retirement benefits of the affected staff.”

Embarrassed by the blockade of the ministry’s gate which prevented the minister of finance from leaving the office after she handed over, the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, Mohammed K Dikwa, who she handed over to, demanded an apology from the protesters for embarrassing the minister.

The cowed protesters apologised profusely and promised to present themselves for the bio metric capture from 10am to 2pm on Wednesday.  Addressing them protesters in the ministry’s auditorium, Dikwa assured the NAL protesters the government has approved the balance of N200 billion to be released for payment to the NAL workers.