This is as information gathered by SaharaReporters indicated that the Federal Government may commence the payment of the final severance packages of N45bn to 5,886 staff of the former workers before the end of August.
The number of deaths recorded among the former staff of the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways has risen to 845 since the airline was liquidated in 2004 by the Federal Government.
This is as information gathered by SaharaReporters indicated that the Federal Government may commence the payment of the final severance packages of N45bn to 5,886 staff of the former workers before the end of August.
Alhaji Bello Da’U, a retired former Company Secretary and Legal Advisor with the defunct airline became the latest person to die of protracted illness in Kano State on July 28, 2018.
The sad news was broken to our correspondent by the son of the deceased, Mr. Bashir Bello Da’U today.
saharaReporters learnt that Da’U had been sick in the past few months and was admitted in a hospital in Kano, but the family could not raise the necessary funds to properly take care of his ailing health, which deteriorated in the past few weeks.
It was learnt that Da’u was buried according to Muslim rites on Sunday, July 2018, less than 24 hours after his death.
A source close to the family also told our correspondent that Da’U before his death had hoped to collect his severance benefits before his death when the government promised that the sum would be paid before the end of 2017, but the failure of the government to fulfill its earlier led to his ailment and eventual death.
Since the payment was announced and approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last September, no fewer than 200 staff of the former national carrier had passed on.
The source said: “Alhaji Bello was healthy until last year when government promised to pay the severance benefits of the former workers to them after 13 years of liquidation. Everyone thought the money would be paid them before the end of last year, but unfortunately, that was not to be.
“When this could not be fulfilled, several of them went from state of hope to hopelessness and develop different ailments and have since been dying one after the other. Numerous numbers of them are still in hospital and can’t raise money to buy ordinary N1000 drugs. Some have become destitute as they are driven away from their homes by their landlords. This is a bad way to appreciate those who have worked for you.”
This as is was learnt that the government may commence the payment of the sum N45bn severance packages to the ex-workers before the end of 2018.
It was gathered that the sum would be paid from the last week’s approval of $5.2bn Eurobond by the National Assembly, which was to pay debts incurred by former governments like contractors, infrastructure and pensioners including the staff of the former national carrier.
A source close to the Ministry of Transport, Aviation Unit, told our correspondent that President Muhammadu Buhari was bothered about the non-implementation of his several directives by ministers in his cabinet.
He was said to be particularly peeved that despite the approval of FEC directing Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance to pay the ex-workers, the sum was yet to be paid and has shown particular interest in ensuring that the staff were paid their entitlements.
Just as Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State for Aviation had promised the ex-workers that their benefits would be paid to them before the commencement of a new national carrier, Nigeria Air; President Buhari too had reportedly made it a top priority to ensure that the ex-workers were paid.
However, it was not clear if it is the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a department under the Ministry of Finance that would disbursement the funds to the former workers or Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
An inter-Ministerial Committee set up for the purpose of the payment of the gratuities to the former workers had recommended N78bn to the about 6,000 staff of the liquidated carrier and also recommended 1 per cent administrative charges, totally N735 million to any government agency that would disburse the funds to the ex-workers.
The committee in its submission, however, suggested that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation should disburse the severance packages to the ex-workers, but along the line, PICA showed interest in the disbursement of the funds and slashed the sum to N43bn with its own administrative charges upped to N2.1bn, totalling N45bn.
Capt. Ibrahim Yunusa, a staff of the former airline said the government had shown sincerity of purpose with the planned payment.
He, however, decried that several staff of the defunct airline had died since the airline was liquidated, adding that 200 of them had died in the past one year.
He declared that if the workers were not paid before the commencement of Nigeria Air, it would spell doom for the carrier and government would be starting on a wrong footing.
“Now that it has gone through the National Assembly and approved, I believe this time around, it is going to work even though the delay has caused us a lot of hardships. As I am talking to you now, a lot of our people are in the different hospitals across the country. Between the time of approval and now, over 200 of our people have passed on. We are all suffering.”