Five major aviation unions have collectively appealed to President Bola Tinubu in regard to the Finance Act 2022, which mandates a 40 per cent reduction in the financial income of aviation agencies.
They urged the President to reconsider this decision in order to protect the industry and enable it to continue playing a crucial role in the nation’s economic growth.
The unions also appealed to the President to look into the issue of members of staff of aviation agencies who have been working for many years without valid staff conditions of service.
The unions comprising the National Union of Air Transport Employees; Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria; Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals; National Association of Aircraft Pilot and Engineers and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, in a letter dated June 19, 2023, addressed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stated that despite having concluded management-unions review of the CoS many years ago, the National Salaries, Incomes & Wages Commission, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and the Budget Office had continued to hold their members’ hostage ‘by their dereliction of duty and plain inhumanity to man.’
According to the unions, they have been complaining about the matter for over a decade. They claimed that despite several interventions, by the then minister of aviation and the Minister of Labour, the agencies concerned had yet to do anything to address the issue.
In the letter jointly signed by Principal Deputy General Secretary, ATSSSAN, Frances Akinjole; General Secretary, NUATE, Comrade Ocheme Aba; Secretary General, ANAP, Abdul Rasaq Saidu; Deputy General Secretary, NAAPE, Umoh Ofonime and General Secretary, AUPCTRE, Sikiru Wahab, the unions stated that “We feel restrained by the fact of the newness of your administration, and the likelihood of misinterpretation of any strike action against the government in our airports at this critical point in time. On the other hand, we are under severe pressure to secure amelioration of this impasse by the long-suffering of the affected hapless workers.
“Your Excellency, Sir, it is because of the above that our unions passionately and humbly seek your golden intervention to call to order all the agencies involved that are using the instrumentality of government to wreak havoc and cause untold hardship on our members in the aviation industry.”
According to the unions, their plea is predicated on the need to avert imminent danger that will befall the aviation sector in the event that the aviation agencies become incapacitated and unable to render their safety-related functions.
“This is because, even the full financial accruals of the agencies are grossly inadequate in meeting the financial obligations of the agencies, and are normally supplemented by the Federal Government on an annual basis.’’
