Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance through the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), has announced the verification exercise of the ex-workers of Nigeria Airways Limited.
The verification exercise of the national career which has since been liquidated will commence from Monday, October 15 to Monday, October 22, 2018.
In a tweet by the Ministry, it was learnt that the verification exercise will happen across the three geopolitical zones of the country.
The Ministry of Finance through the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) announces the Verification Exercise of the Ex-Workers of Nigeria Airways Limited (in Liquidation) to commence from 15th October, 2018, across the three geopolitical zones. #PMBPaysPensions pic.twitter.com/k3l0a47nSK
— Federal Ministry of Finance (@FinMinNigeria) October 9, 2018
Going by this development, workers of the liquidated national career will get their retirement benefits after 15 years.
Nairametrics had earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the sum of N22.68 billion for the payment of retirement benefits to former workers of liquidated Nigerian Airways Ltd.
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed who made the announcement, said the signed amount represented 50 per cent of the N45.3 billion entitlements of the former workers of the company.
To ensure that the Presidential directive is duly implemented in line with extant Financial Rules, the Minister had constituted a Committee to be headed by the Secretary of Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), Dr MK Dikwa (Mni).
Speaking of the committee, Ahmed said the established committee is shouldered with the responsibility of physically verifying the claims of pensioners and relevant Next-of-Kin before the release of funds to the approved beneficiaries.
Other modalities, according to the Minister, will be worked out by the Committee to ensure speedy payment, transparency and integrity of the process.
Recall that following the unveiling of Nigeria Air in London on Wednesday, July 18, 2018, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) threatened to halt the operation of the new national carrier should the Federal Government refuse to pay severances of all the staff members of the defunct Nigeria Airways.
Comrade Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary of the union, maintained that until the Government ensure the payment of the former workers, aviation unions will ensure the newly-unveiled project never come to fruition.
