The Federal Government has announced the commencement of a mop-up verification exercise for ex-workers of Nigeria Airways Limited in conjunction with the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a department of the Finance Ministry.
This was disclosed in a statement by the FG on Thursday.
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The FG said, “The exercise, which is the last the Ministry of Finance will carry out, is meant to verify ex-workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways who have genuine claims but are yet to be paid.
“The Federal Government is determined to ensure that all former public workers, especially those of liquidated agencies, who have genuine and legitimate claims, are not denied of such.”
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What you should know
- Recall Nairametrics reported in December 2019 that the CEO of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr Ahmed Kuru, said airlines failed in Nigeria for “serious issues in aircraft financing” which he blamed on “our people that dabble into the business of aviation with the wrong capital mix.”
- Managed by a number of foreign companies, including British Airways, KLM, and South African Airways, Nigeria Airways had its heyday in the early 1980s, just before the departure of a KLM team that had been hired to make the airline efficient and profitable.
- Plagued by mismanagement, corruption, and overstaffing, the airline at the time of closure had debts totalling $528 million, as its operative fleet comprised a single aircraft flying domestic routes, as well as two leased aircraft operating the international network.
- Nigeria Airways was succeeded by Virgin Nigeria, and the ground facilities were taken over by Arik Air.
