July 03, (THEWILL) – Retirees of the liquidated national carrier, Nigeria Airways, have appealed to the Federal Government, to return them to the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) like their counterparts in the other sectors of the economy.
The over 6,000 ex-staff of the moribund airline comprising those who had retired from the airline before the national carrier was liquidated by the government, believe that being under the platform of DBS would enable them to get their pensions for life until they die.
This is as the former workers in their letter dated May 20, 2024, and signed by Stephen Onuh and Ahmed Sulugambari, the Chairman and Vice respectively, are seeking an audience with Mr Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, to properly inform him of their plights and seize the opportunity to express their displeasure over the attitudes of some of the staff of the ministry to their predicaments.
The former staff under the auspices of the Association of Airways Retired Workers of Nigeria (AARWN), also petitioned President Bola Tinubu, to press home their demands for inclusion in the DBS, saying the retired staff were until the liquidation of the airline in 2004 by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, were enrolled in the scheme.
They claimed that they were controversially removed from the scheme by the government after the airline’s liquidation.
The letter dated December 5, 2023, and addressed to President Tinubu, insisted that pensioners are never paid off, but are paid till they die.
The pensioners also argued that the N45 billion severance package, which some of its members benefited from was part of their accumulated 10-year pension arrears suspended by the Federal Government after the liquidation of the carrier in 2004.
The petitioners said, “The N45 billion paid to our members was part-payment of our accumulated pension arrears for over 10 years. We were on the monthly pension payroll before the liquidation in September 2004 with a retired letter.
“In pursuance to make sure that the pensioners are paid monthly pension, relevant government authorities have made interventions, directing that the pensioners be pay-rolled into the monthly pension scheme of the Federal Government.”
In this light, the group said that the Senate held a public hearing on pensions matters in 2012 and after a thorough investigation, resolved and directed the authority concerned to immediately commence payment of pensions to the retirees of the airline.
Apart from the Senate, the group also said that the House of Representatives in a letter addressed to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, dated February 26, 2013, urged the government to immediately integrate the retirees of the former airline into the monthly pension payroll of the government.
The pensioners emphasised that the House of Representatives through their investigation were able to establish that the Nigeria Airways pensioners were entitled to “pension for life.”
The pensioners decried that since the last payment of N45 billion to the entire former staff of the airline, the pensioners were in four years of pension arrears from 2020-2024.
It prayed that the Federal Government should 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, stressing that this would enable their plights to be solved once and for all.
Also, in another letter, addressed to Keyamo, dated May 20, 2024, and signed on May 22, 2024, by the office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace, expressed displeasure over the attitudes of some staff of the ministry on their plights.
The pensioners accused the office of the Deputy Director and the desk officers in the ministry of denying them integration into the Federal Government’s monthly pension payroll, despite the interventions from all relevant government agencies.
They alleged that the affected pensioners had over the years written to the ministry, but the department in the ministry always denied them progress.
They mentioned letters written on December 18, 2023, September 3, 2015, and April 21, 2017, to press home their claim.
The petitioners alleged that the action of the department was tantamount to sabotage and violation of Section 173 of the 1999 constitution, adding that it also amounted to sabotaging the minister and the Permanent Secretary who they said were making an effort to right the wrongs of the past administration in the ministry.
“We humbly beseech you, sir, to consider granting us an audience to get a chance to present our matter directly. We propose to come as a delegation of two, being the Chairman and Vice Chairman of our association”, the petitioners requested.
About the Author
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
