The federal government has begun the payment of 50 per cent entitlements of ex-workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways who have successfully completed the verification exercise.

Godwin Jibodu, chairman, Nigeria Airways Elders Forum, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.
Mr Jibodu said the government had kept to its promise to start crediting the bank accounts of the beneficiaries who have completed the verification process.

He said: “I can confirm that some of our people have started receiving alerts and it is wonderful news to us. The payment comes three days after a pensioner completes the process.

“We are very grateful to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for finally coming to wipe our tears away after all these years.

“The government has given hope to these pensioners and now they will be able to attend to their health issues and other responsibilities.”

He said the union was optimistic that all the beneficiaries would be verified and paid the first tranche of the money before the end of the extended deadline of the exercise.

A NAN correspondent who monitored the exercise on Monday at the Skypower Aviation Catering premises, Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos observed that government had deployed more staff to carry out the exercise.
Also, there was the presence of an ambulance and medical officials to attend to the aged pensioners in case of any emergency.

NAN reports that the verification exercise began on October 15 for the ex-workers of the national carrier which was liquidated in 2004.

The exercise is being conducted by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) in Lagos, Kano and Enugu ahead of the disbursement of the N22.6 billion approved as part payment of their entitlements.