Former employees of defunct Nigeria Airways (Lagos) are urging the federal government to release NGN36 billion (USD26 million) in severance benefits approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last year, reports Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper.
The payments, approved in June 2025, were meant to resolve a decades-long struggle for compensation following the airline's liquidation in 2004. However, nine months after the presidential directive, the funds have yet to be disbursed, according to workers’ representatives.
In a March 29 statement, spokesperson Sheri Kyari, also a former assistant manager at Nigerian Airways, said the finance ministry had not yet authorised the release of the money. The group appealed to the current finance minister, Wale Edun, and other officials to act immediately.
"Across Nigeria, elderly former workers are dying in penury, unable to afford food, shelter, medication, and other basic necessities of life," Kyari said, adding that some retirees had died without receiving their entitlements.
The former employees' struggle for severance pay has spanned multiple administrations. Former president Muhammadu Buhari approved partial payments after years of protests, but a balance remained outstanding until Tinubu’s approval last year.
Nigeria Airways ceased operations in 2003 and was formally liquidated in 2004 by the federal government.
