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Aviation Union Faults Minister over Failure to Fulfill Promises
Chinedu Eze
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has blamed the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika for the failure of the federal government to fulfill its promises made to improve the sector since in 2016.
The union in a statement issued in Lagos at the weekend to mark 2021 Workers’ Day said the government has failed to accomplish what it described as aviation road map set out in the first tenure of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Some of these set goals are the establishment of the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Abuja; the establishment of a leasing company, and the establishment of a national carrier.
National President of the union, Ben Nnabue, also used his May Day address to express the union’s frustration over the unjust treatment meted out to workers of aviation agencies by the Salaries and Wages Commission, and the Head of Service.
Nnabue said: “We have persistently pointed out the folly of one-man-show in governance of the sector. As we all know, having no governing boards for all the agencies in aviation, and the CEOs being direct employees of the Minister of Aviation, and the minister being the chairman of all the so-called interim boards, the affairs of the aviation industry has been contrived to be totally in the hands of one man.
“This is extremely dangerous, preposterous and truly objectionable. All our protests on the subject over the past years have fallen on deaf ears. That stakeholders in the industry have tolerated this circumstance for six years is quite honestly incomprehensible.”
On the aviation promises, he said: “Whereas the Akwa Ibom State government has successfully launched its own airline without any fanfare, which is fast becoming the industry leader, our country has woefully failed in its attempt to birth a national carrier after over 10 years of labour and colossal financial waste. The proposed aircraft leasing company, national aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility and aerotropolis development, all flagship programmes of this federal administration, have all suffered paralysis, despite massive support from all stakeholders and informed Nigerians.
“They all followed the same path, bitten by the bug of hidden agenda, suffering the ailment of ill-motive to death, and presently in the coffins of infidelity to the national cause, waiting to be buried in the grave of ‘onemanism’. I enjoin all NUATE members to join hands in prayer for a better tomorrow for our aviation industry.”
The union leader also spoke on the concession being singlehandedly championed by the minister, describing it as a travesty aimed at draining the country.
“The case of selective airports concession is already well told. Our irreversible opposition to the unjustifiable programme is based on unassailable evidence of unwholesomeness and is well documented. We call on the National Assembly, the Federal Executive Council and the presidency to work together to put a halt to the travesty called airports concession and save our country from further draining of the national treasury,” he stated.
On the union’s frustration over what he described as the unjust treatment meted out to workers of aviation agencies by the Salaries and Wages Commission and the Head of Service, he said: “We have become tired of begging for our rights in respect of the stated issues of Conditions of Service and minimum wage which has been denied aviation workers for two years now. And we have lost our patience on the matter. Accordingly, all our branches in the agencies concerned should follow the example of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and convene their respective JAC (Joint Action Committee) meetings for the purpose of mobilising for industrial action, as several ultimatums on the matter have gone by without any result whatsoever. Actions will be ordered as from May 17, 2021,” the union leader said.
