Activities in the aviation sector may soon be disrupted as workers have resolved to embark on a peaceful protest on September 18, 2024.
The proposed mass action followed the federal government’s refusal to reverse the 50 per cent deduction policy from internally generated revenues of agencies in the sector.
The unions directed that “all state councils, women commissions /committees, youth councils, and branches of our unions nationwide are to fully mobilise for and ensure full compliance and success of the peaceful protests.”
This was disclosed in a joint statement signed on Thursday by the general secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Ocheme Aba, and the deputy general secretary of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Frances Akinjole.
Other signatories in the protest notice are the secretary general of the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Abdul Rasaq; the general secretary of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Olayinka Abioye; and the general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCCSTRSE), Sikiru Waheed.
The workers said the deductions have negatively affected the financial stability of critical agencies, adding that the strain is already compromising critical safety activities.
“All efforts on our part have failed to impress it upon the federal government that all the agencies are cost recovery and not profit-making organisations. As such, they cannot survive on half of their incomes under any model of administration or any other guise whatsoever. The ultimatum given to the Minister of Aviation on the same has expired since the end of August 2024.
“Information available to us indicates that some important safety critical activities of the agencies are grinding to a halt under the yoke of the deductions. It has, therefore, become incumbent on us as trade unions and workers in aviation to let the public and the government be aware that we shall bear no responsibility in the event that the industry becomes dysfunctional as a result of financial incapacity due to the deductions at source,” they stated.
The affected agencies are the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NMA), and Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
