Nigeria Airways workers receive long-awaited benefits
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
The federal government of Nigeria began paying N18 billion in severance benefits to 2,700 former employees of the defunct Nigeria Airways after a 22-year wait.
The payments started following a directive from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address the outstanding obligations. Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele announced that 2,100 former employees had already received their benefits, with another 600 cleared for payment in the next batches. The airline was liquidated in 2004 despite recommendations for privatization.
The government verified the beneficiaries through biometric data and banking information to prevent fraud, and will process payments to the families of deceased workers after completing legal procedures. While acknowledging that the payments don’t fully account for the decades-long delay and resulting inflation, the government stated it was important to resolve the inherited debts. In a separate action, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) disbursed N1.1 billion in additional exit benefits to 175 retiring civil servants.
These benefits, provided under a new federal government scheme, equal 100 percent of a retiree’s final annual salary after at least 10 years of service. The government allocated N32.9 billion for the scheme in 2026 and has released N12.3 billion to a dedicated account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
