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Tag: Kemi Adeosun

  • Abacha loot: FG confirms recovery of $322.51m from Switzerland

    The Federal Government says it has received 322.51 million dollars from the Swiss Government as part of looted funds recovered from former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha.

    Mr Oluyinka Akintunde, the Special Adviser, Media and Communications to the Minister of Finance, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

    According to Akintunde, the government received the money since Dec., 2017.

    Akintunde said there was no controversy surrounding the recovery of stolen funds by the former head of state from the Swiss Government.

    “The minister wishes to dissociate herself and the Federal Ministry of Finance from recent reports on the Abacha refunds.

    “The minister had at no time written any letter to the President or any member of the Federal Executive Council ( FEC ) on the payment of lawyers for the Abacha recovery.

    “She also refutes the flawed reports of controversy surrounding the Abacha recovery.

    “We wish to state that the sum of 322,515,931.83 dollars was received into a Special Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) on Dec. 18, 2017 from the Swiss Government.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, there is no controversy concerning the recovery of the Abacha monies from the Swiss Government,” he said.

    Akintunde said the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, frowned at a recent report that she objected to the payment of 16.9 million dollars to two lawyers who recovered the Abacha funds.

    In 1999, the Nigerian Government hired Mr Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer to recover the Abacha loot.

    After a successful negotiation by Monfrini, the recovered money was domiciled with the Attorney-General of Switzerland pending the signing of an MoU with Nigeria to avoid the issues of accountability that trailed previous recoveries.

    All that was left after the signing of the MoU was a government-to-government communication for the money to be repatriated to Nigeria.

    However, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, later engaged the services of another set of lawyers in 2016 for a fee of about N6 billion (16.9 million dollars).

    The two Nigerian lawyers are Mr Oladipo Okpeseyi, a senior advocate of Nigeria ( SAN ), and Temitope Adebayo.

    NAN

  • VAIDS: Buhari under pressure to extend tax amnesty period

    As the tax amnesty under the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme ( VAIDs ) ends on Saturday, some private sector players are said to be lobbying President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the amnesty period.

    An official at the Presidency, who craved for anonymity, told our correspondent on Friday that governors and company owners had called the President and Vice President to push for the extension of the programme.

    “We are expecting Mr President to make an announcement on the tax amnesty deadline by this weekend.

    “To be frank and honest, nobody knows whether the President will decide to extend it or not, but there has been calls by state governors and key private sector players calling for the extension.

    “However, it still remains unclear if the President will take the recommendation to extend it by another three months, since he had been advised otherwise by the Minister of Finance and Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS ) chairman,” the source said.

    Meanwhile, the Adamawa state Commissioner for Finance, Mr Mahmoud Yunusa, told our correspondent that many of the states were in support of extending the tax amnesty past the March 31 deadline.

    “It should be extended because people are just beginning to buy into the programme. We see people coming up willingly to declare their assets and it shouldn’t end soon.

    “Nigerians deserve more time and I believe that some of them are still collating their assets to know their worth before doing so.

    “Also, some haven’t declared because they operate businesses without any formal documentation so it will take time before they get their books in order.

    “So it’s my opinion that extending it for another six months would ensure better success,’’ he said.

    Yunusa lauded the programme, saying that in Adamawa State, it had helped the state to improve its Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ) by more than 200 per cent despite still recovering from insurgency and recession.

    Also, Mr Tunde Dare, an economist, held the view that the VAIDs programme should be extended.

    “Even though I think the programme should be extended, I think the government went about this business of tax amnesty the wrong way.

    “I think the scheme should be aimed at capturing more people into the scheme without asking them to pay backlog of taxes,” he said.

    Meanwhile, on Thursday, which was the last working day before the expiration of the programme, many accountants and lawyers stormed the offices of the FIRS to submit applications of their clients.

    We gathered that many tax defaulters, who had thought that the amnesty programme would be extended, were making last minute efforts to key into the scheme.

    The VAIDs programme was launched on July 1, 2017 and was expected to last for nine months.

    The government threatened to prosecute tax evaders that do not take advantage of the scheme thereby risking imprisonment of up to five years.

    According to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Federal Government had the political will as well as the means to gather evidence that will enable it to prosecute tax evaders.

    She once said that using Project Lighthouse, a data mining agency, the government had been gathering information from different sources to enable it to identify and properly prosecute tax evaders after the expiration of the deadline.

    She said information had so far been gathered from Bank Verification Number records, engagement with foreign private investigation firms on a retainership to trace assets of Nigerians abroad.

    Also, the Federal Government plans to use the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit records and land ownership records in locations like Maitama, Asokoro, Garki, Wuse, Banana Island, Magodo, Lekki, Ikoyi, and Victoria Island.

    The government further plans to beam its searchlights on people that over the years have received major payments from it or foreign exchange allocation and also people with private jets.

    Also, the Federal Government have agreements with many foreign governments like the United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom to get records of Nigerians with property there.

    The government also threatened to go after Nigerians who frequent tax havens as mentioned in the panama paper leaks.

    NAN

  • TSA accruals now N 8.9tr – Adeosun

    The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said on Monday the Treasury Single Account (TSA) total accruals stand at N8.9 trillion as at February 9.

    She made the disclosure at the House of Representatives investigative hearing into the money accrued into the TSA.

    The minister, who was represented by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, told the lawmakers that a total sum of N480 billion is saved annually since the introduction of the TSA policy in 2015.

    Prior to the implementation of the TSA policy, over N70 billion was lost to leakages through 17,000 accounts operated by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), she said.

    According to her, the revenue was remitted through 1,634 MDAs’ accounts and 3,118 sub-accounts captured in the TSA as at March 22.

    Adeosun said: “Approval for the exemption of some accounts was given by Mr. President, including West African Examination Council (WAEC) and Joint Venture Accounts of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) because of other partners involved in the operations of the accounts.”

    She said the accounts are being operated with certain Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

     

     

  • Fed Govt releases N1.248tr for capital projects

    Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun yesterday said N1.248 trillion had been released for capital projects under the 2017 Budget.

    She spoke with State House reporters at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    She was with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),  Mohammed Bello, Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

    She said: “The final update I gave was the level of capital releases till date from 2017 and l gave details of the big four areas and then others. So, power, works and housing got N301.89 billion, defence N151.2 billion, agriculture N119.9 billion, transport N127.9 billion and other ares combined is N545.6 billion. So the total capital budget release for 2017 so far is N1.248,310 trillion.

    “We haven’t closed yet. We are confident we will close the year roughly around where we closed last year. We will close around N1.3 trillion mark.

    “So, our commitment to infrastructure spending remains very strong. That is what is going to drive growth of the economy. That is what is going to drive jobs.”

    Adeosun, who briefed Council on the scorecard of her ministry, also disclosed that the Federal Government has recovered N7.8 billion, $378 million, and 27,800 pounds through whistle blower policy.

    She said the government also  intends to institutionalise the whistle blower policy in order to properly handle its increasing magnitude.

    Stressing that the Ministry got 28 approvals during the period, she said the Federal Government has saved N68 billion on personnel cost in 2017.

    She said: “This brings the aggregate savings by the government on personnel cost since 2007 to date to N288 billion.”

    According to her, the funds, which is now free for the government to fund capital projects, would have gone unaccounted for.

    The savings, she said, were achieved despite increased in personnel, including the employment of 10,000 by the Nigerian Police.

    She confirmed that a total of 511 Ministries,  Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had been captured under the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), with staff count of 607,843.

    She said: “As at  March 20,  2018 the number of MDAs on IPPIS Payroll is 469 with 316,158 staff count with gross salary of N43,979,383,997.78 and 42 Police Commands and Formations paid on IPPIS Platform in February, 2018 with staff count of 291,685 and gross salary of N22,276,669,257.21.

    “Staff of para-military agencies (Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Prison Service and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps) enrolled to date is 100,822 for which a trial payroll of N11,456,278,859.00 have been sent for review and update for April,  2018 payroll.”

    The introduction of the IPPIS, she said, had resulted in the reduction of ghost workers, enforcement of compliance with due process on employment of staff in MDAs, and prompt and timely payment of salaries and remittances of third parties payments.

  • Buhari approves new excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages, tobacco

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco with effect from Monday, June 4, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has said.

    In a statement in Abuja on Sunday, Adeosun said the president also granted a grace period of 90 days to manufacturers of the products before the commencement of the new duty regime.

    She said the new excise duty rates would spread over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020 in order to moderate the impact on prices of the products.

    The minister said the new duty regime followed all-inclusive stakeholder engagements by the Tariff Technical Committee of the Federal Ministry of Finance with key industry stakeholders.

    According to her, the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco was to raise the government’s fiscal revenues.

    She said that it would also reduce the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcohol abuse.

    Adeosun said the new duty rate on tobacco was a combination of the existing ad-valorem base rate and specific rate while the ad-valorem rate was replaced with a specific rate for alcoholic beverages.

    “For alcoholic beverages, the current ad-valorem rate will be replaced with specific rates and spread over three years to moderate the impact on prices.

    “This will curb the discretion in the Unit Cost Analysis for determining the ad-valorem rate and prevent revenue leakages.

    “For tobacco, the government will maintain the current ad-valorem rate of 20 per cent and introduce additional specific rates with the implementation to be spread over a three-year period to also reasonably reduce the impact on prices,’’ Adeosun said.

    She said that under the newly approved excise duty rates for tobacco in addition to the 20 per cent ad-valorem rate, each stick of cigarette will attract one naira specific rate per stick, that is N20 per pack of 20 sticks in 2018,

    She said that tobacco would in 2019 attract duties of two naira  specific rate per stick, that is N40 per pack of 20 sticks in 2019 and N2.90 kobo specific rate per stick, that is N58 per pack of 20 sticks in 2020.

    Adeosun explained that Nigeria’s cumulative specific excise duty rate for tobacco was 23.2 per cent of the price of the most sold brand as against 38.14 per cent in Algeria, 36.52 per cent in South Africa and 30 per cent in Gambia.

    She said also that the new specific excise duty rate for alcoholic beverages cut across beer and stout, wines and spirits for the three years, 2018 to 2020.

    Under the new regime, beer and stout will attract .30k per centilitre  (Cl) in 2018 and 35k  per Cl each in 2019 and 2020.

    Wines will attract N1.25k per Cl in 2018 and N1.50k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020, while N1.50k per Cl was approved for spirits in 2018, N1.75k per Cl in 2019 and N2 per Cl in 2020.

    Adeosun said that the new excise duty regimes were in line with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) directive on the harmonisation of member-states’ legislations on excise duties.

    The ECOWAS Council of Ministers had at its 62nd and 79th Ordinary Sessions in Abuja in May 2009 and December 2017, issued directives on the harmonisation of the ECOWAS Member States’ Legislations on Excise Duties.

    The directives seek to harmonise member-states’ legislations on excise duties of non-oil products and also stipulate the scope of application, rate of taxation, taxable event and amount.

    NAN

  • Fed Govt uncovers 130,000 high net worth persons, companies underpaying tax

    Fed Govt uncovers 130,000 high net worth persons, companies underpaying tax

     

    The Federal Government’s data mining efforts has identified a new batch of over 130,000 high net worth individuals and companies that have potential tax underpayments.

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, made this revelation on Tuesday while appearing on the Good Morning Nigeria programme of the Nigerian Television Authority.

    The Minister disclosed that the data was currently being compiled by Project Lighthouse in preparation for the closure of the ongoing Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), which ends on 31st March, 2018.

    Project Lighthouse is a unique project of the Federal Ministry of Finance that combines data from Federal and State agencies and overseas countries.

    According to Adeosun, “data have been received from a number of sources including land registries of the Governments of Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.”

    “In addition, Nigeria has been able to request data from a number of nations including traditional tax havens. The data have been received from a number of foreign jurisdictions under the exchange of information protocols.

    “Under the exchange of information protocols, this information relates to bank records and financial filings for tax purposes and is obtained from tax havens who are signatories to the information sharing agreements such as British Virgin Islands and Mauritius.”

    She explained that the data received from overseas countries would only be used for taxation purposes in line with the protocols governing the exchange of information

    “The sole interest of the Federal and State Governments in the use of the data is in raising tax revenues. There is absolutely no hidden agenda on the use of the data,” she added.

    Adeosun was however happy at what she called “the unprecedented level of cooperation between the Federal and State Governments”, which she said was a marked change from the past when the various arms of Government did not align their efforts.

    The Minister identified the common violations by non-compliant tax payers to include:

    • Under-declaration of and non-declaration of income earned including income from Government contracts and overseas trading;
    • Collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) which is not duly remitted to FIRS;
    • Charging of non-allowable personal expenses to company accounts particularly with reference to overseas school fees;
    • Inconsistency between income declared for tax purposes and the value of assets owned.

    She advised non-compliant tax payers to seek professional advice and to also consult relevant literature available from the tax authorities on tax rules.

    She underscored the Federal Government’s commitment to raising tax revenues which are considered essential to grow the economy and create jobs for Nigerians.

    She cited the fact that just N1 million could feed over 14,200 primary school children under the Homegrown School Feeding programme as well as creating many jobs in the agricultural sector.

    Read Also: Adeosun to multinationals: evading tax is foreign corrupt practices

    Once again, the finance minister ruled out any possibility of extending the VAIDS programme arguing that sufficient grace period had been given to tax payers to voluntarily and truthfully declare their assets and income which had not been declared previously.

    On the economy, she assured that the country was on the path of growth, noting that Nigeria had exited recession in the second quarter of 2017, recording a growth of 0.72 per cent, further consolidating its recovery in the third and fourth quarters of last year, with growths of 1.40 per cent and 1.92 per cent, respectively.

    Adeosun said, “The Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has laid the foundation for the repositioning of the economy by a series of reforms which are being sequenced to ensure maximum impact and benefits to Nigeria and the citizens.

    “These include huge investments in infrastructure and social welfare across the country, improved revenue mobilisation, rebuilding of foreign reserves and stabilization of exchange rate.”

    She further noted that revenue mobilisation was potentially the master key to unlocking Nigeria’s huge growth potentials and funding the infrastructure programmes.

    In addition, the Minister said the Federal Government would continue to create more fiscal space for reforms to enhance productivity and opportunity in the non-oil sector.

     

  • NGO Charges Buhari to See to Ending Gas Flaring Immediately

    NGO Charges Buhari to See to Ending Gas Flaring Immediately

     

    The federal government has been charged to effectively end the practice of gas flaring in the Niger Delta, in the interest of the people of the region.

    Giving the charge in a statement issued in Warri on Friday, the National Coordinator of the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), Comrade Sheriff Mulade, noted that the new amendment recently suggested by the federal government would not be deterrent enough to the international oil companies.

    He made this statement following government’s plan to charge those who flout gas flaring law   that cost  the nation billions of dollars as, stated by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.

    According to Comrade Mulade, oil companies prefer flaring gas instead of harnessing it for economic benefit to the people.

    He stated that the new intention by government to approach lawmakers to amend the law and have the word “charge” replaced with “penalty” will not stop the flare, since companies find it easier to flare, pay the penalty and move on, without considering the hazardous effect on the people.

    Read Also: Gas explosions

    “It is believed that the gas flare law is weak; hence the oil companies flout it at will. Most communities are suffering terrible hardship as a result of gas flaring and oil spill. While some are under the threat of relocation by oil companies to make way for more gas flare”, he said.

    He, however, urged the federal government to demonstrate effective political will to enact environment friendly policies, build a dynamic and competitive energy sector, enhance governance and show commitment to regulate enforce, and expand external financing solutions.

    He added that, government should provide a legal, regulatory, investment and operating environment that is conducive to upstream investments.

    He also advised oil companies to develop new oil fields and operate according to plans that incorporate sustainable utilization of the fields associated with gas without routine flaring.

  • FEC okays $2.5 billion external borrowing for refinancing

    FEC okays $2.5 billion external borrowing for refinancing

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved USD2.5 billion Eurobond external borrowing for refinancing.

    The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    On the potential savings on the proposed USD2.5 billion refinancing, she said that the estimated proceeds of N762.5 billion will be used to redeem Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTB).

    She said “At estimated current NTB rates of 15% (following mop-up operations by the CBN), the savings from the refinancing of N762.5 billion of Domestic Debt using external capital raising is about  N64 billion per annum.”

    On the impact of the use of the proceeds of the USD500 million issued in November 2017, she said “The proceeds about N162.50 billion were used to redeem NTBs which matured in December 2017.

    “The immediate impact was a significant drop in the Bid Rates at the Auctions of both NTBs and FGN Bonds. In December 2017 and January 2018:

    “NTBs dropped from about 16% to 13%. FGN Bonds dropped from about 16-16.50% to 13.50%

    “This translates to savings for Government on new borrowing while also making the cost of borrowing for the real sector cheaper since the sovereign rate serves as a benchmark for other borrowers,” she added.

     

  • We’ll invest N1.3tr annually on infrastructure  – FG

    We’ll invest N1.3tr annually on infrastructure  – FG

    In order to attract investors to the country, the federal government has said that it will continue to invest about N1.3trillion annually on capital projects to bridge the infrastructure gap.

    Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this in Abuja when  a consortium of 20 international investors led by a former Minister of Finance, Shamsudeen Usman, visited her.

    According to her, “government invested about N1.3 trillion on capital projects last year (2016) to develop roads, rail, power, housing and all the infrastructure government thinks would be needed to unlock this huge economy,” the Minister said. “Hopefully, the figure would be around the same for 2017 and 2018.”

    She said government’s commitment to solving the infrastructure challenges in the country was firm giving that one of the cardinal focus of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is to address the infrastructure deficit in the country through targeted spendings at projects that would unlock the economic potential of the country.

    The visiting consortium was made up of representatives of investment, capital and equities firms from London, New York, Miami, Johannesburg and others some of which buy Nigerian bonds and equities as well as those providing advisory services to clients on the foreign direct investments (FDIs).

    Adeosun described the level of interest from foreign investors in the Nigerian economy as huge, adding that very soon, these interests would translate into massive investments that would create jobs and reduce the level poverty in the country.

    She said a lot of the projects currently being handled by government were abandoned for over 10 years, pointing out that Nigerians were beginning to feel the impact of government efforts in terms of infrastructural development.

    She noted that this is “a great time for investors to be in Nigeria. For us these are better times now than last year because finally we think that we are beginning to address through deliberate policies some of the most stubborn problems that have held back Nigeria’s growth.

    Apart from undertaking difficult adjustments in fiscal policies, she said the Finance Ministry was focusing on revenue, particularly how to move the country’s tax to GDP ratio from six percent to an initial target of 10 per cent and in the medium to long term to about 15 to 20 per cent.

    With the seriousness demonstrated by government to develop infrastructure in order to unlock the potentials of the economy, the finance minister said several companies have been coming to inquire about the prospects of opening factories and land for agriculture.

    Although she did not give specific details, the Minister said the visitors included major cassava processing firms from Brazil and Thailand who have asked for between 10, 000 and, 20,000 hectares of land for cultivation and processing of cassava.

    The leader of the delegation and Managing Director, Global Chief Economist, Renaissance Capital, Charles Robertson, told the Finance Minister that the collective worth of investments by the various firms in the consortium was about $1billion.

    Robertson said the objective of their visit was to have first-hand interaction with policy makers regarding their “positive sentiments about the country’s economy and what the outlook and investment climate is going forward.”

    He said there is a lot of optimism in the global market about Nigeria and investors have for long been waiting for positive changes in the country’s economy, it appears that the right moment has come, with investment flows rising and reserves looking up.

     

  • Ex- Nigeria Airways pensioners protest delay in payment of severance benefits

    Ex- Nigeria Airways pensioners protest delay in payment of severance benefits

    …Passengers miss flight over traffic disruption

    Former workers and pensioners of liquidated national carrier –  Nigeria Airways Limited on Tuesday staged a protest at the Lagos Airport over the delay by the Ministry of Finance in paying their N45 billion severance benefit.

    The former workers and pensioners numbering over one hundred blocked the busy Airport Road disrupting vehicular traffic.

    They marched from the Skypower Catering Company premises, one of the subsidiaries of the liquidated former carrier opposite the Nigeria Air Force Base to the section of the road leading into the General Aviation Terminal (GAT).

    Singing solidarity songs they carried placards with inscriptions conveying their plight.

    Policemen attached to the airport were on hand to prevent break down of law and order.

    The blockage of the road, forced many passengers to get on motor bikes otherwise known as Okada , so avoid missing their flight.

    The ex – workers said they were disappointed that despite approval by the Federal Executive Council, seven months ago, the Ministry of Finance is yet to release their money.

    The ex-staff carried placards with different inscriptions principally targeted at the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun whom they accused of being insensitive to their plight for refusing to release their entitlements.

    The placards read: ” Mrs Kemi Adeosun: Do not delay this payment further, It is a crime against humanity, Madam MOF: Did you misappropriate our pension money?, Kemi Adeosun, We demand immediate payment of our pensions, Mrs. Adeosun: Enough of the Rigmarole- pay us Now, Mrs. Adeosun: Your actions and inactions are man’s inhumanity to man and so on. They also chanted solidarity songs and echoing the name of the minister at intervals.

    Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Nigeria Airways Branch, Comrade Sam Nzene said the protest became necessary as he alleged that the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun was playing politics with their money.

    He explained that last year after the approval for payment was given, they were told that the ministry was ready to pay but were being delayed by the National Assembly as they were waiting for them to give the go ahead.

    Comrade Nzene added that to their surprise after a visit and discussions with the National Assembly, it was the Ministry that was dilly dally on the matter.

    “This is the third protest, we have been doing this since last year, even on December 19, last year, there was a protest in the Ministry of Finance when we shut down the place for  five hours and at the end of the day, they were called into a meeting and told that the National Assembly was holding our payment. This is the seventh month now after the FEC approved this payment”

    “Well, we went to National Assembly, we wrote to the senate president, we were told that there was nothing of the Nigeria Airways in the National Assembly that they have approved the money government sent to them for settlement of debts owed to civil servants and pensioners and contractors that these monies have been approved and released”.

    Comrade Nzene said many of their members have died while waiting for their pay package, adding early this year three of their members died.

    Also speaking, president, Aviation Union Grand Alliance, Comrade Lookman  Animashaun said they were tired of the bulk passing and insisted that the Minister of Finance should tell them why the payment was delaying.

    He noted that army pensioners have started collecting their benefits from the N2.7 trillion approved by the FEC and asked what was  delaying the payment of N45 billion accruing to them.

    “They are paying the salary arrears of army pensioners and contractors, were did they get money to pay those two, they should let us know, so to us, nothing is in the National Assembly because we have combed everywhere in the National Assembly, we have gone to the clerk, senate committee on aviation, appropriation, on pensioners, they said there was nothing like that and whatever they need to approve, they have done and that is why they are paying the other two components, the minister should come out and tell what the position is”.

    Three of the protesting staff collapsed during the protest and were immediately revived and taken away.

    Some families members of the ex-staff whose father/mother have died came clad in black clothes to show their support for the protest.

    Some of the placards read: ‘Adeosun: Enough of the rigmarole, pay us Now’, Mrs. Adeosun: Your actions and inactions are man’s inhumanity to man’, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun: Do not delay this payment further; it is a crime against humanity’, ‘Kemi Adeosun, we demand immediate payment of our pensions’ etc.

    However, he said findings showed that it was the ministry that is withholding the payment.

    It would be recalled that in September 2017, the minister of state for aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika announced the approval of N45 billion severance package for the Nigeria Airways workers.

    Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, September 20 after the weekly federal executive council meeting, Sirika said the minister of finance, Adeosun, had been instructed to put the machinery in place for payment of the workers.

    “I’m happy to announce that Mr. President has approved N45 billion which has been confirmed to be the entitlements of these workers and Ministry of Finance has been instructed to pay the money. The ministry wrote…that they have received the instruction to pay these workers, and therefore, they are setting up the modalities to pay.

    “You should know it won’t be paid through my ministry before somebody will say I take some of it. It will be paid by the ministry of finance through a process, and that process will commence very soon,’’ he said.