700 ex-Nigeria Airways workers die in 10 yrs

…Vows to hold govt responsible

About 700 ex-workers of the liquidated Nigeria Airways have so far died in the past ten years after since its liquidation about 15 years ago.

Investigation by the Daily Times revealed that over 2000 ex – workers were thrown into the unemployment market following the liquidation of the national carrier by the Obasanjo government requiring about N70 billion to offset the bill.

Between two and three ex – workers of the airline die weekly as a result of hardship and inability to to take adequate care of themselves due to lack of funds.

The workers have in different occasions asked the Federal Government to pay them after the liquidation of the airline but the Obasanjo government refused to pay them while the Late Presdent Musa Yar’ Adua administration paid them five years.

Based on the death and inability of the workers to meet up with their daily obligations, the former workers have decided to embark weekly prayers as according to them, their agitations have defiled human solutions.

The Daily Times correspondent visited the weekly praying ground of the workers where about 40 ex – workers on the defunct airline led by their elders were met praying for government’s intervention for payment of their pensions.

Speaking to the Daily Times, the coordinator of the weekly prayer, Engineer Ayuba Kyari, said their demands were beyond human solutions and have decided to ask for God’s grace upon them.

Kyari said about N70bn was needed to settle all the workers of the defunct airline for the period of their 20 years pay off.

He explained that since the liquidation of NAL on May 21, 2003, the Federal Government had only paid the retirees five years pension arrears out of 25 years pension arrears.

He urged the government to pay the retired workers the outstanding pension arrears.

It was learnt that NAL employees who served in New York, Rome, London and other West African countries had been paid 25 years pension arrears.

Kyari explained that they were worried over the high rate of death among their colleagues, explaining that about 700 people as at January 2016 had died while between June and early August, five people have been dying weekly.

He vowed that the government will be held responsible for the death of their colleagues for allowing them to die without paying them, adding that every kobo belonging to them must be paid by the government to both the living workers and dead workers.

He queried if it was the plan of the government to kill all workers of the former national carrier by refusing to pay them.

“We will hold government responsible for all that have died without payment.

“Government should pay us off to end the long processes of paying pensioners. The longer it takes, the more workers die and more money will be accumulated”.

He called on the National Assembly to intervene by probing former President Obasanjo for liquidating the Nigeria Airways and plunged workers into hardship without payment.

Also speaking to the Daily Times, one of the elders among the ex-workers, Dr. Steve Mahonwu, condemned the non-challant attitude of the then ministry of aviation for failing to present their matter before the president, adding that files of the Nigerian Airways workers might have not been submitted to the President for action.

He collaborated Engr. Kyari’s statement on the death of their colleagues, saying, they have become beggars and finding it difficult to feed and pay their bills especially children school fees.