When Sahara Reporters visited the processing and data capturing centre at the Sky catering Services within the Lagos airport, most of the retirees were yet to be attended to. Just as it happened on Monday, power supply and breakdown of server for data capturing had stalled the progress so far. Out of the over 3,000 retirees expected to be attended to in Lagos, less than 300 of them had been processed and captured by the department.
The ongoing verification and data capturing exercise of former staff of Nigeria Airways at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, has been chaotic.
When Sahara Reporters visited the processing and data capturing centre at the Sky catering Services within the airport, most of the retirees were yet to be attended to by officials of the President Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), which is saddled with the responsibility of disbursement.
Just as it happened on Monday, power supply and breakdown of server for data capturing had stalled the progress so far.
Out of the over 3,000 retirees expected to be attended to in Lagos, less than 300 of them had been processed and captured by the department.
At the venue on Tuesday, some of them with health challenges and had to be brought in on wheel chairs while others were partially blind, possibly due to old age.
One of the beneficiaries, Engr. Isaac Datti, lamented to our correspondent that he had been coming since on Monday, yet he hadn't been attended to.
He decried that power supply to the venue had been epileptic while officials of PICA too were naïve in handling the procedures, stressing that most of the retirees, especially those who came in from outside Lagos, were already stuck without money to buy food or make phone calls.
“I have been coming here since Monday when this exercise began. On Monday, only 250 of us were attended to instead of the estimated 500. The officials claimed it had to do with power supply to the area, while their server too has not helped matters.
“I just hope that the entire exercise will not be inclusive, again. We are really eager to get our money because we worked for it and for over 14 years; we have been suffering to get this thing done. About a thousand of our colleagues have since died without collecting their dues.”
Also, Mrs. Clara Iwara, who claimed to be an administration staff member before the airline was shut on September 30, 2004, decried the situation.
Iwara, like Datti, explained that she had been coming to the centre since Monday, but was yet to be attended to despite securing her name on the papers.
According to Iwara, her daughter, who equally works within the airport environment, had been bringing her since Monday without any success so far.
However, she exuded confidence that all the retirees would be attended to before the end of the exercise, but said less than 10 per cent of the total population had been attended to by the PICA officials.
“I have been coming here since Monday, but nothing tangible has come out of it. My daughter who works within the airport has been bringing me here and usually leaves after dropping me off. The situation is tedious for me at this my age.”
The exercise takes place simultaneously in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Enugu States while 50 per cent of them were expected to be processed in Lagos.
No fewer than 5,969 ex-workers of the airline were estimated to benefit from the exercise
Mr. John Waitono, Deputy Director, PICA, Ministry of Finance, led the team to Lagos.