After 23 years of waiting, countless protests, appeals, repeated promises by the Federal Government, and partial payment, the hope of ex-workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways still hangs in the balance, OLUSEGUN KOIKI reports.

For more than two decades, thousands of former employees of the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, have lived on a Federal Government promise that has never been fulfilled.

From one administration to another, the government has repeatedly assured the retirees that the remaining 50 per cent of their severance benefits, amounting to N36 billion, would be paid. Yet, 23 years after the liquidation of the country’s once-proud national carrier, many of those who kept the airline in the sky – pilots, engineers, cabin crew, dispatcher riders, marketers and others – have died waiting, while hundreds of survivors now battle old age and chronic illnesses in penury.

The latest promise came in June 2025, when information filtered to the public and President Bola Tinubu’s administration, following the efforts of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who had approved the final settlement for the workers, totalling over 4,000.

The announcement raised hopes among many fragile septuagenarians, octogenarians, and nonagenarians who had waited for over two decades to be treated like their European and American counterparts, who also worked for the same airline.

However, in June 2026, exactly a year after, the payment controversy took another dramatic turn. A delegation of retired workers visited the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja to find out why payment had not commenced despite presidential approval.

The delegation comprising Ore Salako, Ayuba Kyari, Prex Porbeni and Chris Aligbe, returned with shocking claims.

During meetings with officials of the Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), the delegation was informed that the file containing the approval could not be found.

The report read in part: “The delegation met with John Waitono, one of the key officers in the Ministry of Finance, directly in charge of WT affairs. He explained that when the newly appointed Minister of Finance initiated the payment process for the approved N36 billion entitlement as soon as he assumed office, a review of the relevant files revealed that the presidential approval authorising the payment could not be found. This was the first indication that the missing presidential approval document was the main obstacle preventing payment.”

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

The delegation was later advised to intensify efforts to locate copies of the approval within the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and other government agencies that may have kept records of the authorisation, a step it said the delegation has taken.

The revelation of a missing file sparked outrage across the aviation industry. The retirees wondered how a presidential approval involving N36 billion could disappear within the bureaucracy.

Efforts were immediately initiated to trace copies of the approval in the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and other government offices.

However, by July, the Ministry of Finance announced that a ministerial payment committee would begin sitting to work out modalities for disbursing the outstanding N36 billion approved by Tinubu for the final settlement of the workers’ severance packages, indicating that the “missing file” must have been found.

But over a month after the announcement, the ministry and the ministerial payment committee were yet to walk the talk, therefore prompting another suspicion of failed promises.

A former Nigeria Airways pilot, Prex Porbeni, in an interview, said that every passing month claims more lives among retirees.

He recalled that presidential approval for the payment of the benefits was conveyed to the Ministry of Aviation on June 10, 2025, and that the ministry responded to the Ministry of Finance on July 24, 2025, providing the required documentation.

“Quite a number of our colleagues have died in the last 22 years without receiving the reward for their hard labour. We are simply asking the government to show compassion. We are confident that the Minister of Finance will direct his officials to pay us promptly. Sadly, quite a number of our colleagues have died in the last few years without receiving the reward for their hard labour,” he said.

Also, the Chairman, Joint Consultative and Negotiating Council (JCNC), Hector Nnadi, appealed to the government to ensure the full payment of severance packages to the former staff.

Nnadi regretted that the workers of the former national carriers were yet to be paid their full entitlement despite their sacrifice for the country at large.

He said: “Among these great veterans are the workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways, who gave their patriotic service to this nation, but are still struggling to get their full entitlement years after liquidation.

“We are sending an SOS to Mr President for his further intervention to conclude this over-year challenge and become ‘Aviation Workers Hero.’ The above is without prejudice to several efforts of the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo.”

Earlier in the week, the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI) condemned the continued delay in the payment of the severance packages to the former workers.

The ASRTI President, Ademola Onitiju, said the continuous delay of the payment of the severance benefit was a “grave injustice” to Nigerians who dedicated their productive years to national service.

Onitiju stated that the former workers had been subjected to more than two decades of bureaucratic delays, false hopes and administrative “ping-pong” since the liquidation of the national carrier in April 2003.

The group regretted that the prolonged delay had taken a heavy toll on the former workers, many of whom were now elderly and battling age-related illnesses and financial hardship.

According to ASRTI, the hundreds of elderly beneficiaries had died while waiting for their legitimate entitlements, stressing that the situation had become a national tragedy and a poor reflection of the country’s treatment of citizens who served it faithfully.

ASRTI noted that Nigeria Airways was never a private enterprise, but the country’s former national carrier and a symbol of its sovereignty, while its employees were professionals who served the nation with the expectation that their welfare would be guaranteed after retirement.

The statement said: “Nigeria Airways was never a private enterprise; it was the proud national carrier and a symbol of our collective sovereignty.

“The men and women who worked there were dedicated professionals who served with unwavering zeal, trusting that the nation they built would care for them in their golden years. Instead, they have been subjected to over two decades of agonising neglect following the airline’s abrupt liquidation in April 2003.”

The group expressed concern that the prolonged withholding of their entitlements had left many of the former workers struggling with health challenges, including hypertension and diabetes, as well as basic financial needs.

It said the situation was particularly disturbing because the former workers had received assurances that their entitlements would be paid.

Onitiju also recalled that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced in December 2025, during the centenary celebration of 100 years of civil aviation in Nigeria, that President Bola Tinubu had approved the payment of entitlements to former Nigeria Airways workers.

According to ASRTI, the presidential approval was subsequently forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for implementation.

The group, however, expressed dismay that the implementation was yet to be concluded, describing any administrative negligence, delay or alleged sabotage of the presidential directive as unacceptable.

It therefore called on the relevant authorities to immediately commence payment to the former workers, while urging that any official found culpable for the alleged delay, misplacement, or stalling of the process should be held accountable under the appropriate public service regulations.

The group, however, commended Keyamo for his efforts on the matter, but appealed to him to urgently engage with the Minister of Finance and other relevant authorities to ensure that the payments were effected without further delay.

Besides, the President of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Ben Nnabue, described the continued delay in settling the entitlements of Nigeria Airways retirees as painful and unacceptable.

He warned that the situation had continued to create anxiety among serving aviation workers, stressing that all necessary approvals for the payment had been granted by Tinubu and appealed to the relevant authorities to ensure immediate disbursement of the approval.

“All the people who retired in the aviation industry and are still owed gratuity and pension, especially Nigerian Airways workers, must not be abandoned. We must rise and fight for them.”

The story of Nigeria Airways’ retirees remains one of Nigeria’s unfulfilled promises and a huge discouragement to those who wish to serve the country truthfully.