12 years after liquidation, Nigeria Airways echoes

Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) was liquidated in  September 2004 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. 12 years after, the ex-workers of the airline are still in the trenches fighting for payment of their entitlements. In the meantime, over 800 of them have passed away,  but the remaining workers promise to fight on until their pensions are […]

Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) was liquidated in  September 2004 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. 12 years after, the ex-workers of the airline are still in the trenches fighting for payment of their entitlements. In the meantime, over 800 of them have passed away,  but the remaining workers promise to fight on until their pensions are fully paid. Daily Trust reports.

In its heyday, Nigeria Airways Limited was one of the respected airlines in the world providing cheap and efficient air transportation services to the citizens and non-citizens of the country. With about 30 aircraft  in its fleet, the airline was  positioned to carry the flag of Nigeria to all  the nooks and crannies  of the world- from Africa, America to Asia and Middle East countries
It was an heritage Nigerians were very proud of. It was one of the biggest employers of Labour at the time, having more than 10,000 workers in its employ. Nigerians, especially students who had experienced cheap and almost free flights on Nigeria  Airways, could still recall with nostalgia the fond memories of the once thriving national monument. It was one of the legacies bequeathed the nation by the founding fathers.
Like many other institutions that were borne out of sheer ingenuity and foresightedness of the founding fathers, Nigeria  Airways has been killed. Though, some stakeholders attribute the fate suffered by the airline to mismanagement and corruption, which significantly shrank the operational capacity of the airline as at the time it was being liquidated, others hold the opinion that killing the airline should not have been the solution to the insolvency of the airline. In fact, those who are privy to the operation of the airline, said the assets of the carrier were more than the liability.
At a 2012 aviation event held in Lagos, Obasanjo justified his decision to liquidate the airline, saying that NAL was a failure by the time he assumed office as Nigeria’s President in 1999, and he had no alternative than to liquidate and sell it.
He said “When I was leaving office in 1979 as the military Head of State, I left behind 32 aircraft but 20 years later in 1999 when I assumed office as the elected president, there was one aircraft flying.”
According to him, the airline’s Board of Directors, at the time the firm was liquidated, was utterly corrupt, forming various dubious companies which were used as conduit pipes to siphon funds from the airline, under the guise of servicing and maintaining the lone aircraft.
He added “You would be a very irresponsible leader if you failed to do something about such an ugly development, and I had to do something as the incumbent President of Nigeria. I will not reinforce failure and NAL is a failure and it was not worth being reinforced, when I assumed office in 1999 as the Executive President of Nigeria.”
Former Managing Director of the airline, Mr. Yomi Jones who expressed sadness over what became of the airline, described it as a goldmine. According to him, while he was being sacked as the Chief Executive of the airline, he pleaded fervently with the authority not to kill the airline, but his plea fell on deaf ears. He therefore advocated for the re-introduction of the airline, so that Nigeria would not continue to play second fiddle in world aviation.

He said “We had the best of everything. When I was appointed, Dr. Christopher Kolade said  ‘I hope they would allow you to work’. I tried my best. I said then that Nigeria Airways is a goldmine. I repeated it several times that Nigeria Airways was a goldmine. And for you to know it, when Skypower was being sold, it was sold for over N3.5bn. You said one part of that body was not good, but you could sell that part for over N3bn.”
Olu Bajowa, a former Chief Executive and later NAL Sole Administrator, stressed that the company had huge assets locally and internationally, from which it could have defrayed its debts instead of being liquidated.
“NAL had assets in Europe, UK, America and African countries to offset the liability it purportedly acquired. The various routes its aircraft were flying as the national carrier and the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) it entered into with other international airlines then, were enough for its sustainability.
“The huge resources from BASA and its annual subvention from the Ministry of Aviation then ,should have formed part of what could have bailed it out. It could in the alternative have entered into operations with mega airlines such as the British Airways or other international airlines,” he said.
With Buhari coming on board and expressing his determination to re-introduce a national carrier having set up a committee which has already submitted its report, stakeholders say the President must probe the circumstances leading to the liquidation of the airline.

Besides, the ex-workers of the airline have continued to languish in pains over non-payment of their entitlement. Now, they are agitating for the payment of their pensions before introducing a new carrier. Findings show that quite a number of Nigeria Airways former staff are in the employ  of some aviation agencies including the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and few other private airlines, but those who are unemployed since the liquidation have been living from hand  to mouth, languishing in penury.
It was learnt that the ex- workers were paid five years pensions after the liquidation. The affected workers lamented that they have not been paid for eight years.
Secretary-General, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Olayinka Abioye said the total severance package of the ex-workers of Nigeria Airways amounts to over N70bn, adding that the union had made relentless efforts to get the government to pay the workers their entitlements.
He said the position of the union is that those laid off must at the time of liquidation of the airline , be paid their entitlements before introducing another carrier. 
Recently, some of the pensioners of Nigeria Airways gathered at Skypower Catering centre opposite the NAF base, for a special prayer to seek divine intervention for the nation, and also use the opportunity to plead with President Buhari to listen to their plight. They accused some senior government officials of being insensitive to their plight.

Coordinator of the Bring Back Nigeria Airways group, Capt. Ibrahim Yunusa Kazaure who spoke with Daily Trust on behalf of the group, disclosed that at least eight former workers of the Nigeria Airways die on weekly basis while struggling for their entitlements to be paid. He said the affected workers are optimistic that Buhari would pay their entitlements before re-launching the national carrier.
Explaining the motives of the prayer, he said “We did the prayer for the country, for our President, Muhammadu Buhari and then for ourselves, those of us who are alive, and for our colleagues that are sick and for our colleagues that have departed.
“On top of it again, we prayed for the government and we plead for the government to pay us our outstanding entitlements. Our colleagues in America, in Italy, in Saudi Arabia, in United Arab Emirates, everywhere in the world, they pay them their retirement benefits of 25 years pension as an outright pay-off, but we in Nigeria, they paid us only five years pension and after that, they didn’t pay us anything, and that five years pension according to the law of Nigeria is only for a person who dies in active service. Then the government would pay the family of the deceased for five years. And now we are waiting for another 20 years outstanding entitlement.
“Again, we also pray for the country to have its own national airline or bring back Nigeria Airways. Nigeria Airways was set up by an act of parliament of 1959. When Obasanjo came to kill the Nigeria Airways, he did not go to the National Assembly to repeal it. Technically, Nigeria Airways still exists. It is only that there is no structure, no place or nothing. 
“The main issue is our money, our entitlement has to be paid and before you can have another airline, you have to pay us and we are law-abiding citizens, we don’t want to come and demonstrate, we don’t want to come and block the traffic. We all gathered to vote for this change so that everybody would be taken care of, because we know Baba Buhari is a man of his word. Buhari promised to pay us and he promised to bring back Nigerian Airways. So basically this is what we are doing”.
According to him, about 800 ex-workers of the airline have passed on struggling to get their pensions.
Yunusa added “Our people are dying every week, not less than five, eight people are dying every week…Close to 800 of our people have died awaiting their entitlement and their families are suffering, they are being sent out of their houses, some are diabetic people, some are hypertensive, they need money for drugs. One of our colleagues, Capt. Shehu died because he did not have a balance of  50,000 to go to India for treatment. Capt. Musa died because  he didn’t have  N200 to buy insulin for a diabetes injection. He couldn’t afford it, that’s how he departed. It is a very sad situation. We’ve not been paid our pension for over eight years.”
The coordinator added that the liquidation of the airline on the premise of its indebtedness was not right, noting that no airline in the world is insulated from indebtedness.
He said “It was not right for the Obasanjo government to liquidate it. He did it on personal interest. One they wanted our properties, they wanted our routes. When they did the liquidation, we bidded to buy but they did not sell it to us. So all of us were thrown out. Like I was in Kano, when I came they have sold a lot of my properties.
“Every airline business is indebted even British Airways and other American airlines you are seeing are indebted to one airline or the other, one spare parts’ maker or another, or one bank or the other. Airline business is a matter of credit facilities, you owe left, right and centre. There is no airline that is 100 per cent clean. That is how the  airline business operates, but it was wrong for Obasanjo to liquidate it. You know the airline has done a lot.”

Former Director of Flight Operations, Nigerian Airways, Capt. Dele Ore who was also at the prayer session, said having a new national carrier is desirable ,but it may not succeed without investigating the circumstances behind the liquidation of NAL and paying the entitlement of the ex-workers.
He said “You cannot form a new carrier without at least paying off the pensioners of Nigeria Airways including my good self. You must pay us all our final entitlements, but if you don’t do that, thinking of forming a new carrier, it is wishful thinking and an exercise in futility. The Lord that we know is a Lord of justice. He would not allow that to happen.
“It is a security risk when you have not paid off those that were laid off and you want to come up with a successor. You liquidated the Nigeria Airways that was providing food on their table, and you did not pay them off. Some would go to the mountain to pray against what you are putting together, saying that ‘until you pay me, this thing you are putting together, there would be confusion, until you pay me, the thing would not prosper’.  
“You want to form a new one, I don’t mind but pay me off. Pay me for the work I have done all my life. I, for one, Captain Dele Ore, I have never worked for any organization all my life, from age 21 till I retired at nearly 50 and you just threw us out like that, it is not fair.”
When contacted, Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Special Adviser to the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika declined comment, saying he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
Be that as it may, stakeholders say any move to re-launch the national carrier must be preceded by investigating what led to the death of Nigeria Airways, and settling all issues arising from its sudden liquidation.