More than twenty years after Nigeria Airways was liquidated, the Federal Government has begun paying out ₦18 billion in outstanding severance benefits to former staff of the defunct national carrier; a settlement that finally resolves one of the country’s longest-running unpaid labour obligations.
The Federal Ministry of Finance disclosed the development in a statement on Friday, confirming that 2,100 beneficiaries covered under Batches 1 to 7 have already received their entitlements. Another 600 beneficiaries under Batches 8 and 9 are being finalised, with payment expected within days. Once completed, the exercise will bring the total number of former workers compensated to 2,700.
The settlement follows a directive from President Bola Tinubu instructing the government to clear the long-standing obligation. Announcing the payments in Abuja, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, stressed that the moment carried a significance beyond the financial settlement itself; describing it as a matter of restoring dignity and trust, and of government following through on obligations it owes its citizens.
He acknowledged the weight of the delay on the people affected. Some of the former workers, he noted, had grown old waiting for what was owed to them; others had died before seeing their claims resolved, leaving their families to continue pursuing the entitlements on their behalf.
Nigeria Airways was liquidated in 2003, leaving thousands of former employees with severance claims that went unresolved for years afterward. The ₦18 billion settlement now closes that chapter, though officials were candid that no payment at this stage can fully offset more than two decades of delay.
For a government still working to rebuild public trust around unmet obligations, the gesture carries symbolic weight; a signal that old debts, however overdue, are not being written off.
#NigeriaAirways #SeveranceBenefits #FederalGovernment #NaijaNews #NigeriaMagazine
