The Federal Government is to create more desks and deploy more personnel to fast track the ongoing verification exercise of former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways Ltd. in Lagos.
Dr Mohammed Dikwa, Secretary, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), gave the assurance on Thursday while monitoring the exercise at the Skypower Aviation Catering premises at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
The verification exercise for the ex-workers of the national carrier, which was liquidated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime in 2004, began on Oct. 15.
The exercise is being conducted by PICA in Lagos, Kano and Enugu ahead of the disbursement of the N22.6 billion approved as part payment of their entitlements by the federal government.
Dikwa, who noted the concerns of the aged pensioners, said apart from increasing the number of PICA staff, arrangements had also been put in place to increase the personnel of the anti-graft agencies participating in the verification.
He said: “The process is encouraging compared to the report that we got as at Monday. We were made to understand that there were some technical issues, but that has already been rectified.
“Going forward, the verification exercise will be smooth and we are expecting that before the week runs out, we will do more. We have increased the number of personnel that will do the verification.
“We will also be increasing the number of personnel from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).”
According to him, the involvement of the anti-graft agencies is to give transparency and accountability to the process and to prevent the release of the money into wrong hands.
“The agencies are the ones giving the clearance as to who is entitled and who is not, and at the end of the day, all the papers of whoever is getting paid will be properly verified by these agencies,” Dikwa said.
While urging the pensioners to remain calm and orderly, he disclosed that the exercise had been extended for one week to give everyone that was entitled the opportunity to be verified.
He disclosed that the 50 per cent payment of already verified pensioners would begin by next week, with their bank accounts being credited by the government.
Dikwa said the second tranche of the payment would be made in a few months’ time as soon as funds were available, and would not require another round of verification exercise.
He advised those whose names were not on the list to exercise patience, as a new desk had been created to address their complaints.
“Whatever we are doing here is based on the rules and regulations and Condition of Service.
“We held series of meetings with the officials before those names came out. We ensured that those on the list are real beneficiaries, and if there is omission, that is why we created a desk to take care of those ones.
“If their case is not genuine, there is no way we can pay them, but once the case is genuine and they have the correct papers, we will have to pay them,” Dikwa said.
The PICA secretary said arrangement was also being put in place to make payments to the former workers of the airline in the diaspora.
He said: “For those in the diaspora, we have also made arrangements to capture them in a month’s time. We are thinking of having a location within the West Coast.
“But those who are already here will be verified now. We are looking at doing the verification in Ghana or other nearby countries so that they can get their benefits as well.” (NAN)
