By DANIEL ETEGHE

The liquidation of the former national carrier, Nigeria Airways Limited, NAL, by the Federal Government in 2003 has been described as a selfish act by the former image maker of the airline , Oba Olufemi Ogunleye.

Oba Ogunleye who is now the Towulade of Akinade in an interview with Vanguard in his community said that the inability of the Federal Government to pay the remaining N70bn severance package for the ex-workers after late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua paid a part of the packages indicated that the government was unconcerned with the plights of Nigerian workers.

He added that during the existence of the defunct national carrier, the workers were told that their pensions would be paid for life, but wondered why the same government reneged on its promise, stressing that hundreds of the former carrier workers had died in abject poverty. He maintained that since Yar’Adua paid parts of the pension in 2009, President Goodluck Jonathan had not made any commitment to pay the remaining 20 years pensions as agreed before the liquidation of the national airline.

He said, “During the existence of the airline in those days, we were told that pension was for life, when you finish serving and you reach a pensionable level, you take your pension for life, but suddenly when they liquidated the airline, they said they commuted the pension to five years. I retired in year 2000 and today is year 2015, maybe they thought that I would die and today, I have not died.