Without much ado, this group which is well known to stakeholders across the sector are the former workers of the country’s defunct national airline, the Nigeria Airways.
The former workers, numbering over 4,000 who cut across Nigeria, the West Coast and the Francophone African countries, are yet to be paid their entitlements 14 years after the airline was brought down by the then government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Though the workers of the defunct carrier in Europe and America were paid almost immediately after it was liquidated by the Nigerian government, unfortunately, 14 years after, the workers spread across Africa are still waiting endlessly to be paid their labour.
After years of struggles and pains, respite came their way last year when, through the efforts of the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and the magnanimity of the present government, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the payment of N45 billion to the former workers as their final entitlements.
Though the amount fell short of the original N78 billion they were meant to be paid, the former workers, however, accepted to be paid the slashed benefits, but the moment the approval came for them to be paid, another bureaucracy reared its head.
Initially, there were intrigues between those responsible for the disbursement of the money at the Ministry of Finance, but the last thing heard of the money towards the end of 2017 was that the approval was before the National Assembly.
Therefore, while many lucky Nigerians and their families, including the government officials, were enjoying the Christmas and the New Year, reverse was the case with the former workers and their families because they could not afford to provide for their families.
In other words, their Christmas was made bleak by those who did not see the sense in the spiritual injunction that says a worker deserves his/her wages, for if they do, the same Nigerian government who rushed to pay the foreigners who worked for the defunct airline will not be playing God with the remaining workers in Africa.
Despite the directives from President Muhammadu Buhari last year that workers should be paid their salaries to make the Yuletide a blissful one.
Their hopes were dashed. The final approval for the payment was kept in a secluded place by the lawmakers who closed for the session without seeing the exigency in paying the entitlements of the former workers after years of hard work.
As at the end of last year, over 400 of the former workers had died without receiving their entitlements while, for sure, between then and now, the number would have increased and yet the government is so comfortable with this injustice.
Some of the workers who spoke to the Crucial Moment in the new year lamented the negative effect of the non-payment of their entitlements on them, with many of them losing their spouses.
It is therefore, at this juncture, that the Crucial Moment is joining other good hearted Nigerians to appeal to the powers that be to put aside any undue protocol and release the N45 billion without delay.
It is sad that here in Nigeria when workers are sacked, they are still made to suffer another trauma before they are paid off.
In this case, the ex-workers of the former carrier have suffered enough and any attempt by any group or government officials to keep playing politics or intrigues with their sweat may bring the wrath of God.
The question on the lips of Nigerians include: why is it so difficult to pay off these people 14 years after their jobs were taken away, could it be a case of sadism? Nigerians have started counting the days for those responsible for the payment of the workers in this new year.
and then