Retired Perm Sec, Ex-Presidency Official Clarify Payment of  Terminal Benefits to Defunct Nigeria Airways Workers

*FG confirms final settlement of pension arrears of former MTEL/NITEL employees  

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja 

A retired permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, and a former presidency official have clarified that the payment of severance benefits to former employees of the defunct Nigeria Airways actually commenced under late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and continued bý late President Muhammadu Buhari.

Finance Minister, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele had last Friday announced that the administration of President Bola Tinubu 

had commenced the payment of severance  benefits to the ex-employees of the defunct national air carrier.

According to the minister,  following the directive of President Bola Tinubu, 2,100 former Nigeria Airways workers in batches one to seven had  been paid, while another 600 beneficiaries in batches eight and nine were being finalised for payment within the next few days.

Combined, Oyedele said the total amount came to N18 billion in benefits for 2,700 former workers.

However, reacting to the development, a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, who preferred anonymity said,

” I saw your headline of yesterday (Saturday), September 12, 2026 on payment of pension to Nigeria Airways retirees.

“For the record, it is incorrect to say that “FG Begins Payment of N18bn Severance Benefits to Defunct Nigeria Airways Workers after 22 Years”.

“The correct position is: President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua made — payments in 2008 to clear five years of pension arrears.

“President Muhammadu Buhari made substantially larger payments, with about ₦22.68 billion actually released in 2018/early 2019 as the first 50% of the ₦45.3bn settlement.

“So the recent payment by the current administration follows these earlier payments and is intended to address the remaining outstanding obligation. In fact, as recently as May 2026, the retirees said  approximately ₦36 billion remained unpaid. 

Above is for your information and records only.”

In yet another reaction,  a former presidency official who served under late President Muhammadu Buhari administration, said the impression created by the current administration was that they initiated the payment of severance benefits to the former Nigeria Airways workers.

He noted that the former administration headed by late President Buhari paid several billions in severance packages to the defunct airline workers, adding that the 2018 payment was in excess of N20 billion.

In a WhatsApp post sent to our correspondent, he said, “Those who weren’t paid then had documentation issues. So, it shouldn’t have been like over two decades no money was paid. The 2018 payment was even higher than what was paid recently. “The story did attempt to silence a previous payment by merely saying outstanding.”

Meanwhile, the federal government has announced the final closure of pension payments to the former workers of the defunct MTEL/NITEL.

Responding to a THISDAY inquiry on the fate of the former workers who had last year consistently protested the non-payment of their pension arrears, the Ministry of Finance said the pension issue had been finally laid to rest by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Direcorate (PTAD).

The ministry said, “PTAD has fully liquidated the long-standing pension arrears to ALL NITEL/MTEL pensioners on its payroll, the last batch of these payments being a sum of over N25bn was finalised in July 2026. “There is, however, a group of former NITEL/MTEL ex-casual/contract workers who are not pensioners. They refer to themselves as the Association of Former Telecoms Employees of Nigeria/NON-PTAD ex-workers of NITEL/MTEL. 

“Following the liquidation of NITEL/MTEL, these categories of workers were not eligible for conversion to pension, as they had not served for the qualifiable pension years. 

“They were instead paid severance benefits, calculated based on their years of service by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

“The BPE has the relevant records/documentation concerning these ex-workers and the severance payments made to them.

“Consequently, the affected former workers have not been brought under the pension scheme, as they were not eligible for pension benefits and had been paid their rightful entitlements by the BPE.”

The position of the finance ministry was confirmed by the Chairman, Federal Parastatals and Private Sector Pensioners Association of Nigeria (FEPPPAN), NITEL MTEL Pensioners Branch, Comrade Austin Ofokansi Ifedinezi.

In a terse response to THISDAY inquiry on whether or not the position of the Ministry of Finance reflected the truth, he simply said, “Very correct.”