The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, said the Federal Government was looking at provision and maintenance and overall operations of aviation agencies, stressing that safety was crucial to achieving results.
While fielding questions from New Telegraph, the Minister further stated that the ministry understood the significance of the issues raised and recognised the aviation workforce’s vital role in ensuring the safety, efficiency, and smooth operation of the industry.
He appealed to aviation workers to shelve planned protests against the government’s continued deduction of 50 per cent of revenue from the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of aviation agencies.
He said: “We appeal to all workers to remain calm and maintain industrial peace while the government is working assiduously towards amicably resolving the matter.
The Ministry appreciates their patience and understanding and remains committed to ensuring a conducive work environment. We thank the workers for their understanding and continued dedication to the aviation sector.”
Keyamo said the concerns of the workers, especially regarding the negative impact these deductions have on investment, maintenance of critical infrastructure, and overall operations of the agencies, have been duly noted, adding that the ministry understood the significance of the issues raised.
He assured that the Ministry was committed to addressing these challenges in a manner that ensures the continued viability and sustainability of the sector while maintaining the highest standards of service delivery.
“We wish to assure the workers’ unions and other stakeholders that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very concerned about the improvement of the Aviation sector and will give their demands due consideration to find a lasting solution that balances both the fiscal needs of the government and the operational requirements of the aviation agencies,” he added.
The aviation agencies are reeling under immense financial difficulties owing to the deduction from source 50 per cent of their revenue, which has made them prostrate and unable to meet their statutory functions.
Consequently, the various aviation unions, comprising the National Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Association of Nigeria Aviation Practitioners ( ANAP), National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees and the Air Transports Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSSAN), have concluded plans to embark on a nationwide protest to force the government to rescind the decision.
In a “Save Aviation from Collapse” notice of nationwide protest letter made available to Aviation Metric, the unions, led by their leaders, Ocheme Aba, Abdul Rsaq Saidu, Francis Akinjole, Olayinka Abioye and Sikiru Waheed, threatened that all workers of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), NAMA, the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) joined by the solidarity of workers have been directed to embark on peaceful at all airports nationwide from August 21, 2024.
They noted that the planned nationwide protest was to demand the discontinuation of the deduction of 50 per cent from the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the aviation agencies.
According to them, “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 union leaders disclosed that the information available to them indicated that some important safety critical activities of the agencies were grinding to a halt under the yoke of deductions, stressing that it had become incumbent on them 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”.