A document containing the presidential approval of final entitlement benefits to former workers of Nigeria Airways is allegedly missing.

The missing document, The Guardian gathered, is responsible for the delayed payment of the over 6,000 workers of the defunct airline.

The Federal Government, in 2003, had liquidated the former national carrier in controversial circumstances.

The government, after the liquidation of the airline, refused to pay the sacked workers of the airline their several benefits despite the approval of N72 billion by the same government.

But the government of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, in the last quarter of 2018, paid the affected workers 50 per cent of the approval, representing N36 billion, with a promise to pay the remaining balance within a few months.

However, the government failed to fulfil its promise until the change of government in 2023.

President Bola Tinubu, in 2025, approved several benefits of N36 billion to the sacked Nigerian workers, but since the approval was made, the government has equally failed to disburse the fund.

The purported missing approval emerged after some members of staff of the airline, under the auspices of ‘Concerned Elders,’ visited the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja on a fact-finding mission.

The delegation, according to a statement signed by the concerned staff, included Ore Salako, Ayuba Kyari, Prex Porbeni and Chris Aligbe.

When The Guardian contacted a member of the delegation, Kyari, he confirmed the allegation of the missing document.

The four-man delegation embarked on the mission between June 16 and 18, 2026, to ascertain the cause of the prolonged delay in the payment of the approved funds.

According to the delegation’s report, officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance confirmed that the payment process was initiated shortly after the appointment of the current Minister of Finance, but a review of the relevant files revealed that the presidential approval authorising the release of the fund was missing.

The ministry told the delegation that the missing approval document had become the major obstacle preventing the completion of the payment process.

Also, the delegation said that the Technical Adviser to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Akor Abbah, also confirmed the missing presidential approval.