By Christel Odili
The Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, has urged the Nigeria Airways retirees to be patient,
noting that Senate promised to approve the payment after the Easter break.
The Minister made this known during the 4th Aviation Stakeholders Forum held on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, the payment would be done within two weeks after the Senate approval. He blamed the delay in payment of the entitlements to non-approval by the Senate. “It has passed the House of Representatives but it is remaining the Senate. The Senate promised to pass it when they come back from Easter and once they pass it, we will pay. Nigeria Airways, we will pay you and we thank you for your patience.”
Speaking on their threat to ground flight operations, the minister said: “If you shut down operations, it will affect a lot of things. In this hard time for Nigeria, I got N45billion for you and we are just waiting for the National Assembly because the house of Representatives have done it, remaining the Senate and once they do it, within two weeks, we will pay.
“So, you don’t need to close the airspace because it can cause serious economic damage to the country, and also cause serious security risk.
“We are sick and tired of talks on closing of the airspace. So please let your protest and downing of tools be in accordance with the law because it is an industry you want to develop also.
“Press your demands some other ways. I have gone to sister agencies and MDAs, I have gone to several places just to press your demands on people, individuals, entrepreneurs and others just to make case for you.”
Sen. Hadi Sirika further promised to ensure the payment of the N45billion entitlements of ex-workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited.
Recall that the Chairman of Nigerian Airways’ Branch of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), Mr Sam Ezene, earlier this year appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to direct Adeosun to release the pension entitlements. The Federal Executive Council in September 2017 approved the payment of N45 billion which was part of pension entitlements of the defunct Nigerian Airways workers.