Nigeria Airways Retirees Cry Out Over “Illegal Deduction”

Retirees of the defunct Nigeria Airways are crying out with a loud voice over what  they call the daylight  attempt to rip them off their hard earned pension.

The retirees said they are raising the alarm following the alleged moves by some of their union executives to fleece them of 55% of their total earnings in the form of monitised ticket fund but the retirees said they will resist such moves with protest though they are aged and frail men and women.

Naij.com correspondent learnt that the alleged moves by the Union executive came to light  when the retirees  were summoned to the office of their Lawyer Chief S.W. Baidi of S.W. Baidi & Co Legal Practitioners located on 2, Ige Street, Iyana- Ipaja area Lagos recently.

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The retirees stated that they were instructed to affix their passport photographs on a form that neither had any establishment logo nor was it signed by any official of any of those presenting it and subsequently append their signature on the said form.

One of the retirees who requested anonymity said “Though we are old and frail, we still  took time to study the form and discovered that the contents if glibly followed as instructed by our  union executives, will mean that we will be  losing as much as fifty-five percent of our monitised ticket fund to our  executives; the Lawyer and an acclaimed Federal Government negotiator Standard Global Property’s Development Company Limited of Plot 12 JSK Crescent, Asokoro Abuja are said  to be facilitating payment of the money by the government.”

The other retirees who requested anonymity due to victimization further stated that “the contentious form with the title ‘Affirmation of mandate’ to receive and make deductions from money payable to us  on the monetized tickets will give our freewill to the executives to  receive on my behalf all money(s) payable to me by government in respect of the monetized tickets as adjudged in suit No ID/2981/96: Architect Bola Lawal & ors v Nigeria Airways Limited.

The form also stated that “I do hereby further mandate you to deduct 10% (ten percent) of such
money for your legal services in the suit and for your recovery of the said money:  Deduct and pay 40% (forty percent) of such money to Standard Global Property Development Company Limited of Plot 12 JSK Crescent, Asokoro, Abuja.

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For facilitating payment of the money by the government, deduct 5% (five percent) of such recovered money for payment of NUP check –off dues/logistics and transfer of the balance into my bank account and  I finally direct you to pay the outstanding balance of 45%(forty-five percent) into my account after the aforementioned deductions.”

Another retiree stated that “we refused to append our  signature on the said form, we are basing our  refusal on the argument that we do not believe that there should be a negotiator said to be employed by the Federal Government who in the first instance  we worked for till we  retired, and that even if one existed, why should such a negotiator be paid as much as 40% of our  labour while we  who sweated for years, are made to take home a paltry 45%; for instance
the government was to pay us  four million naira each, with the said form presented to us  with our signatures on them, we  will in the end earn one million naira  do you see such fraud?

who can agree to such illegality and broad daylight robbery? we may be old and frail but we
are not stupid” However , the Secretary-General of the Union Comrade Chukwu, denied such moves were being made by the union ” He ” I was never privy of the said meeting as well as the agreement some of our members have been asked to sign.

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If indeed  some members of hour union  and the said negotiator as well as the Lawyer are planning to do, then it is unkind and sheer injustices to aged pensioners. I  wondered where on
earth a government will approve a contractor to negotiate on their behalf what pensioners will get after meritoriously serving them.

I was at the time,  in Abuja where I  and some of our members are legally pursuing the course of the pensioners stressing and i have warned our  members not to fall for the tricks of some conmen who will want to capitalize on their desperation to swindle them of what they
have labored for over the years”.

When asked to comment on the development, Lagos Lawyer and Human Rights Activist Chief Gabriel Giwa-Amu after taking a critical look at the form, said “The transaction is not only fraudulent, it is illegal, immoral and should be investigated by relevant authorities.These are monies owed aged pensioners  and they are  lawfully entitled to.

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It is not only sad that they have been fighting to get what is their right but the action of these swindlers is a slap on the face of decency for the same people who could be described as debtors to instigate agencies to deprive these pensioners of their lawful entitlement;This means that
albinitio, the government can pay the said monies to these pensioners, but only create this desperation which would compel these old pensioners to accept what is thrown at them”

The retirees have been at loggerhead with the government since the Nigeria Airway went moribund and their efforts to get money owned seems to be a pipe dream for now, with many of them said to have died while waiting for the pension and others said to be critically ill .

In a related development, many retirees are watching to see if President Buhari will fulfill his campaign promise in which the president said that he will ensure timely payment of retirement benefits for all pensioned senior citizens and creating a poverty safety net for all aged citizens above the age of 65.

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