The Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), under the Federal Ministry of Finance, has explained that the ongoing verification of next-of-kin claims for deceased former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways was aimed at ensuring that only eligible beneficiaries received their outstanding severance benefits.

The exercise, which is part of the final phase of the long-running severance payment process, has attracted a large crowd of former employees and their next-of-kin to the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) premises at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.

No fewer than 4,000 former workers of the defunct national carrier are expected to benefit from the final payment process, while claims involving deceased employees are undergoing further verification.

Speaking during the exercise with The Guardian in Lagos, the Director of PICA in the Ministry of Finance, SeldamDangin, said the government was conducting due diligence to establish the identities and eligibility of the next-of-kin before processing their outstanding entitlements.

Dangin disclosed that verification of next-of-kin claims commenced last week across the country’s six geopolitical zones as part of efforts to conclude the payment process.

He said the exercise was progressing peacefully in Lagos, where thousands of former employees had turned up to verify their documents.

He said: “As you can see, the final process has commenced. In the Lagos zone alone, we have thousands of former workers who have stormed the Skyway premises to verify their documents. Things are going on peacefully.

“The Ministry of Finance is doing the due diligence to ensure that everyone is captured in this last exercise. We are very hopeful that the process will end well.”

According to him, the verification was necessary to establish the rightful beneficiaries of deceased former employees and prevent payments from being made to ineligible claimants.

He assured that the Federal government was committed to ensuring that surviving former workers and the legitimate next-of-kin of deceased beneficiaries were covered, subject to the completion of the required documentation and verification procedures.

Dangin further stated that the Ministry of Finance was determined to conduct the process transparently and accountably to facilitate the successful conclusion of the final severance payment.

The nationwide verification exercise is expected to resolve outstanding claims involving former employees who died before receiving their severance benefits, paving the way for payments to their verified next-of-kin.