Unions in the aviation industry have called for a joint solidarity of all aviation workers directing them to embark on peaceful protests at all airports nationwide, on Wednesday 18th September 2024 to demand the discontinuation of deduction of 50 per cent from the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the agencies in the sector.
The unions under the aegis of National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) had asked that these agencies be exempted from this deduction as it would impact negatively on the industry’s safety concerns.
But all efforts on the part of the unions 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. And the ultimatum given for the Minister of Aviation on same has expired since the end of August, 2024,” the unions said in a statement endorsed by Comrade Ocheme Aba, Comrade Frances Akinjole, Comrade Abdul Rasaq, Comrade Olayinka Abioye, and Comrade Sikiru Waheed, representing NUATE, ATSSSAN, ANAP NAAPE and AUPCTRE respectively.
The agencies involved are the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
“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 certain event that the industry becomes dysfunctional as a result of financial incapacity due to the deductions at source.
“All state councils, women commissions /committees, youth councils and branches of our unions nationwide are to fully moblise for, and ensure full compliance and success of the peaceful protests,” the statement stressed.
It added that “further actions shall be decided and communicated in the events of the protest failing to achieve a desired result.
Frances Akinjole, Comrade Abdul Rasaq, Comrade Olayinka Abioye, and Comrade Sikiru Waheed, representing NUATE, ATSSSAN, ANAP, NAAPE and AUPCTRE respectively.
The agencies involved are the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
“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 certain event that the industry becomes dysfunctional as a result of financial incapacity due to the deductions at source.
“All state councils, women commissions /committees, youth councils and branches of our unions nationwide are to fully moblise for, and ensure full compliance and success of the peaceful protests,” the statement stressed.
It added that “further actions shall be decided and communicated in the events of the protest failing to achieve a desired result.”