Fani-Kayode Counters Keyamo, Defends Atiku Over Nigeria Airways Collapse

Fani-Kayode Counters Keyamo, Defends Atiku Over Nigeria Airways Collapse

 

Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has challenged the criticism of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, over the liquidation of Nigeria Airways and the non-payment of pension arrears owed to its former workers.

Fani-Kayode, who served as Minister of Aviation in 2006, argued that the defunct national carrier’s collapse resulted from years of mismanagement, corruption, mounting debts and operational failures that predated the return of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to democratic rule in 1999.

He made the remarks in a response to Keyamo’s statement on October 14, 2026, in which the aviation minister accused Atiku of hypocrisy over the airline’s liquidation in 2004 and the subsequent failure to pay its former employees their pensions and gratuities.

Keyamo had said President Bola Tinubu approved and released ₦36 billion to settle outstanding pension liabilities owed to former Nigeria Airways workers, adding that beneficiaries had begun receiving payment alerts.

In his response, Fani-Kayode acknowledged the Tinubu administration’s efforts to settle the outstanding liabilities but maintained that the history of the airline’s collapse required a broader examination of events preceding its liquidation.

According to him, Nigeria Airways was already in a critical state before Obasanjo returned to office in 1999.

Fani-Kayode recalled that when Obasanjo left office as military head of state in 1979, Nigeria Airways had 32 functional aircraft, experienced pilots and crew members, a competent management team and an accountable board of directors.

He said the airline was then regarded as a source of national pride but had deteriorated considerably over the following two decades.

By the time Obasanjo returned as elected president in 1999, Fani-Kayode claimed, only one aircraft remained, and it was not operational. He attributed the airline’s deterioration to years of alleged corruption, poor management and the disappearance of company assets.

He maintained that the liquidation process, which was completed in 2004, followed years of financial insolvency, operational collapse and unsuccessful attempts to rescue the airline.

Fani-Kayode also cited the withdrawal of the International Finance Corporation from privatisation-related efforts as part of the difficulties encountered in attempts to revive the company.

He said Obasanjo’s administration had little choice but to liquidate the airline rather than continue committing public funds to an organisation he described as having become practically irredeemable.

The former minister, however, acknowledged that the liquidation left thousands of former employees and their families facing prolonged financial hardship because their pension entitlements remained unpaid.

Recounting his own involvement in the matter, Fani-Kayode said a committee chaired by the then Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, recommended the release of funds to pay the pensioners.

He said that, as aviation minister in 2006, he presented a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council seeking approval for the payment of the outstanding entitlements and argued that settling the liabilities was the right thing to do.

However, according to him, the proposal was rejected after some members of the cabinet opposed it on the grounds that former management teams and boards of Nigeria Airways had contributed to the airline’s destruction.

Fani-Kayode said he disagreed with that position but acknowledged that those who supported payment were outnumbered during the deliberations.

He added that the issue was revisited under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, whose administration paid a substantial number of the pensioners. The administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari also made further payments, he said.

Commending Keyamo for the latest intervention, Fani-Kayode said he was pleased that the remaining pension liabilities had finally been addressed, while expressing regret that the payments had taken so many years.

He described the suffering endured by the former workers as immense and reiterated that paying their entitlements had always been the appropriate course of action.

On Atiku’s role in the Federal Executive Council deliberations, Fani-Kayode said he knew the position the former vice-president had taken during the debate but declined to disclose it publicly.

He argued that the eventual decision was a collective responsibility of the administration, adding that members of the government had to share the consequences of the outcome.

Fani-Kayode’s intervention has added another dimension to the political disagreement surrounding Nigeria Airways’ collapse, the handling of its former workers’ pension entitlements and the responsibilities of successive administrations.

While Keyamo credited the Tinubu administration with clearing the outstanding pension arrears, Fani-Kayode’s account focused on the airline’s long decline, the difficulties surrounding earlier efforts to pay its former employees and the involvement of successive governments in addressing the liabilities.

 

The dispute has also renewed attention on the fate of former Nigeria Airways workers, many of whom endured years of uncertainty while awaiting their retirement benefits.

 

Fani-Kayode Counters Keyamo, Defends Atiku Over Nigeria Airways Collapse