Former Nigeria Airways workers and pensioners have issued a passionate plea to President Bola Tinubu, urging him to intervene after their N36 billion severance and pension entitlements were omitted from the extended 2025 budget and the 2026 Appropriation Bill.
In a letter addressed to President Tinubu dated May 7, 2026, and also copied to the Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, the ex-workers expressed shock at the exclusion, despite prior assurances.
The letter was signed by the acting chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Nigeria Airways Branch, Comrade Olusegun Adeleke, and the secretary, Comrade Thomas Ojuderi.
They praised Tinubu’s May 2025 approval of the payment process and the budget extensions but lamented the absence of funds. “The entire congress of pensioners/ex-workers of the liquidated national airline wish to salute Your Excellency with heartfelt gratitude for the approval granted our severance and pension payments in May 2025,” the letter stated.
“Our hearts were gladdened… But it came as a rude shock to us when we could not trace the N36 billion meant for us in the 2025/2026 budget.”
The union leaders, however, said the development took a painful turn after they discovered that the funds approved for their settlement could not be traced in the budget.
“But it came as a rude shock to us when we could not trace the N36 billion meant for us in the 2025/2026 budget,” they stated.
