Two federal government departments disagree on which of them should collect administrative fee from N45 billion severance package meant for employees of the defunct Nigeria Airways retirees thereby causing a delay in the disbursement of the money and further impoverishment of its beneficiaries, reports IME AKPAN
It has been 14 grueling years for staff of the defunct Nigeria Airways since the carrier was liquidated in 2003 by the government of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 2012, nine years after the liquidation of the airline, Obasanjo justified his action at a book launch in Lagos when he said the airline was a failure.
He said when he assumed office as president in 1999 the airline had only one aircraft, against the 32 he left behind as military Head of State in 1979.
“When I was leaving office in 1979 as the military Head of State, I left behind 32 aircraft but 20 years later in 1999 when I assumed office as the elected president, there was one aircraft flying,” he said.
Corruption holding sway
He added that the airline’s Board of Directors, at the time the firm was liquidated, was utterly corrupt, forming various dubious companies which were used as conduit to siphon funds from the airline under the guise of servicing and maintaining the lone aircraft.
“You would be a very irresponsible leader if you failed to do something about such an ugly development, and I had to do something as the incumbent president of Nigeria. I will not reinforce failure and Nigeria Airways was a failure and it was not worth being reinforced when I assumed office in 1999 as the executive president of Nigeria,” he stressed.
After liquidation
Since the liquidation, successive administrations have been playing politics with the workers’ entitlement until President Muhammadu Buhari set up inter-ministerial committee to verify the status of the airline’s former employees.
And in September 2017, the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika announced that the federal government had approved N45 billion as the workers’ retirement benefits.
However, the Ministry of Finance which is responsible for releasing the fund has been silent on the matter thus subjecting the aged and frail-looking pensioners to untold hardship.
It was gathered that the disagreement between the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a department in the Ministry of Finance has stalled the disbursement of the fund to its beneficiaries.
It was learnt that the conflict borders on whether OAGF or PICA should collect the administrative charge from the pension fund, hence the delay in paying the workers.
Finance Ministry as part the problem
“The two government departments have entitlement mentality. The Ministry of Finance, where the money is domiciled wants a share of the administrative fee while OAGF, as the disbursing wants everything. That is the situation. Except the OAGF and PICA bury their differences and consider the fate of the retirees, the pensioners will continue to live in penury. Alternatively, if the president issues an executive fiat, the two gladiators will soft-pedal,” a source told Blueprint.
Initially, the committee had come up with a N78 billion severance package as the total entitlement for 10 years for the workers, including pension arrears for the period after the physical verification of about 6,000 beneficiaries.
N735m service charge
It also recommended one per cent administrative charge of the total sum to be given to any government agency that disburses the money. This amounted to N735 million.
The committee also said the office of the accountant general of the federation should disburse the N78 billion to all the beneficiaries.
The workers had initially insisted on another 20 years payment of severance package as agreed with the federal government in 2009 before the payment of N29.1 billion, representing five years pay paid by the government of the late president Musa Yar’Adua in that year.
A breakdown of the N78 billion benefit revealed that serving staff would get N20.9 billion; presidential fleet, N1.4 billion; Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), N4 billion; retired staff from SAHCOL, N207.7 million, properties, N1 billion and catering, N1.1 billion.
Others were pensioners, N37.3 million; deferred pensioners, N920.5 million; 1988 Group, N6.4 billion; one percent administrative charge, N735 million; one percent mark-up contingencies, N735 million; salary of four retained staff working on the benefit for 12 months, N10.5 million; office running cost at N100,000 monthly for 12 months, N1.2 million and supplementary at N3 billion.
Accountant General of the Federation, PICA at loggerheads
As OAGF and PICA are locked in what could be described as ‘entitlement war’, the retirees have resorted to seeking divine solution for their predicament.
Weekly, they gather on the premises of the only surviving child of the airline, Skypower Catering Services, calling on God to touch the heart of “the people sitting on our sweat.”
Speaking in a recent interview after one of its prayer meetings, the coordinator of the Bring Back Nigeria Airways group, Capt. Ibrahim Yunusa Kazaure lamented that the airline’s offshore workers were all paid while the Nigerian staff were left high and dry.
Global best practice
“Our colleagues in America, in Italy, in Saudi Arabia, in United Arab Emirates, everywhere in the world, they pay them their retirement benefits of 25 years pension as an outright pay-off, but we in Nigeria, they paid us only five years pension and after that, they didn’t pay us anything, and that five years pension according to the law of Nigeria is only for a person who dies in active service. Then the government would pay the family of the deceased for five years. And now we are waiting for another 20 years outstanding entitlement,” he said.
He said a lot of the workers had died because they could not take care of their health and family needs. He said some were unable to afford as little as N200 to treat an ailment.
Another member of the prayer group, Mr. Sheri Kyari said since the airline was liquidate, the retirees had had a bad experience with successive administrations except that of late president Musa Yar’Adua who paid them five years of their pension.
Many have died
He said many of their colleagues had died and many afflicted with different types of ailments.
“We have had nasty experience with our governments over the years, except the years of late of President Yar’Adua who approved and paid us five years of our pension. Since then it has been a battle till this day to the extent that even when president Buhari campaigned, it was an issue. So when they came in, they have been able to give approval for payment. Since the approval was given no payment has been made. So we are beginning to feel that people are beginning to do politics with our fate.
“We are tired. How can the president of a country approve some money but people are holding on to it. It is unheard off. Our people are dying every day; we are not happy,” he said.
Addressing the media after a meeting of the Nigeria Airways Elders Forum, the chairman of the Forum, Mr. Godwin Jibodu said no ministry or agency of government had been forthcoming with information about the money.
“We have tried to reach out to the ministry of aviation, ministry of finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but there is no response from them,” he said.
Jibodu said the delay in payment had resulted in the death of some retirees while some were suffering from various ailments.
“The first Avionics Engineer, Bose Oladunmiye is at the point of death. Capt. Akintoju, the first Nigerian that flew the VC10 aircraft from London to Lagos is dead. Capt. Charles Ntanyi one of the pilots in the first-eleven of the former Nigeria Airways workers, who boarded a commercial bus…disappeared. Up till this moment his whereabouts is unknown.
“This is sad and disheartening. These great men are dying in droves because they do not have money to take care of themselves. They would have been able to seek medical attention if they were paid their gratuity and pension that is presently being withheld by unknown agency of government after N45 billion was released by the federal government,” he said.
