A payment committee set up by the Ministry of Finance to oversee the disbursement of the N36 billion approved for the final settlement of severance benefits owed former Nigeria Airways workers would commence sitting next week.

The development follows the Federal government’s approval for the immediate release of the entire N36 billion, ending years of uncertainty over the outstanding entitlements of about 6,000 of ex-workers of the defunct national carrier.

A statement jointly signed by the President of the Aviation Unions Grand Alliance (AUGA), Shuaibu Alfa, and Acting Chairman of the National Union of Pensioners (NUP), Aviation Sector, Segun Adeleke and obtained by The Guardian, said the committee would work out the modalities for the payment before disbursement begins.

According to the unions, beneficiaries would be informed of the payment commencement date once the committee concludes its assignment.

The unions also disclosed that a congress would be convened to brief members on the payment process and other implementation details.

The statement read in part: “The payment committee will commence its seating next week to draw up the modalities for payment. We will inform the House on the date for the commencement of payment as soon as it is decided.

“The union leadership will subsequently call for a congress meeting to brief you about the details accordingly.”

The approval for the release of the N36 billion, according to the unions, followed sustained engagements with the leadership of the Senate Committees on Finance and Aviation, as well as the Ministers of Finance and Aviation and Aerospace Development.

The unions lauded President Bola Tinubu, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development and the Senate and House Committees on Finance and Aviation for facilitating the approval.

The payment is expected to bring relief to thousands of former Nigeria Airways employees who have waited for more than two decades for the settlement of their severance benefits.

Nigeria Airways, the country’s former national carrier, ceased operations in 2003 and was liquidated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004 following years of financial challenges and eventual liquidation.

Since then, former workers have consistently demanded payment of their outstanding severance entitlements through protests, negotiations and appeals to successive administrations.

The government of late Muhammadu Buhari in the last quarter of 2018, paid the 50 per cent of the several packages to the former workers, totalling N36 billion with a promise to pay the balance in less than 12 months, which didn’t come to fruition.

The commencement of the payment committee’s work is a major step towards concluding the long-standing process and paving the way for the eventual disbursement of the final payment of the sum.

Just last month, there was an outcry that the file containing the approved N36 billion by Tinubu was missing from the Ministry of Finance. (The Guardian News)

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