The Federal Government has approved the release of N22.6 billion balance to pensioners of the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited.

This was announced by the Permanent Secretary Special Duties in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mohammed K. Dikwa, while calming restive pensioners who held former Finance Minister Mrs. Zainab Ahmed ‘captive’ for hours in her office on Tuesday.

Dikwa said that communication lapses between his office, the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) and pensioners led to the embarrassment visited on the former minister by the protesting retirees.

Though the verification and data capturing of the NAL pensioners was supposed to start by 10am and terminate by 2pm, the exercise eventually kicked-off by 2pm after some complaints by the pensioners.

The pensioners were worried that the delayed kickoff might lead to some of them not being captured on Wednesday, thereby, forcing them to incur more expenses by passing the night in Abuja.

The verification was, however, peaceful.

Chairman of the NAL chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Sam Nzene, alleged that the consultant who was to conduct the screening disappeared.

He told reporters that the consultant claimed that his contract had not been regularised and that government had not paid him.   Before signing out on Tuesday, Mrs. Ahmed held separate meetings with directors and heads of parastatals under her ministry.