NUATE Give FG Ultimatum to Pay Ex-Airway workers entitlement, Vowed to Resist Nigeria Air Take Off

The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has given the Federal Government an ultimatum to begin the payments of the ex-Airway workers.
The union also vowed to resist the take-off of Nigeria Air, unless outstanding entitlements, totalling N45 billion are paid to workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways.
On July 18, the Federal Government unveiled the name and logo of a new national carrier, Nigeria Air, at the Farnbourough Air Show in London.
The airline is scheduled to start flight operations in December. NUATE General Secretary, Mr Olayinka Abioye, told reporters in Lagos that the union had set a July 31 deadline for the government to pay the entitlements or face the consequences.
He said the union had run out of patience with the government’s inability to pay workers’ entitlements since the Nigeria Airways folded up 14 years ago.
Abioye said NUATE would mobilise against government by the end of the month if the government failed to begin the disbursement of the money approved for the former airways workers by the Federal Executive Council more than 10 months ago.
He said leaders of the union had met severally with the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, to deliberate on the plight of the former workers, who according to him, served the country meritoriously before the airline was liquidated in September 2004.
The unionist, however, lauded the minister for what he described as the minister’s efforts to facilitate the payment of the entitlements, alleging that the minister became frustrated after meeting a brick wall in the Federal Ministry of Finance.
He said: “So, the blame cannot be solely placed on Sirika but as the minister in charge of the sector, the onus lies on him to harken to the cries of the oppressed.
“He should ensure that the workers are paid as he promised at our stakeholders meeting that immediately the National Assembly concludes with the document that they will be paid within the shortest possible time.
“So, we are giving the government till the end of this month, irrespective of what the National Assembly is doing, to begin these payments so that these ex-workers will be given a new lease of life.
“If nothing positively happens, the government will know that these people who are currently hopeless also have people who can speak on their behalf.”
Abioye argued that in as much as it was commendable for the government to float a new national carrier, the government should settle its obligation to people who previously worked for their fatherland.
He said over 2,000 former airways’ workers had died while waiting for the payment of their entitlements.