2 months ago
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Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos
Aviation workers’ unions have concluded plans to stage a peaceful protest on September 18 following the refusal of the Federal Government to accede to their call for the reversal of the 50 per cent deduction policy from the internally generated revenues of agencies in the aviation sector.
The protest notice was announced through a statement on Thursday, signed by the General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Ocheme Aba, and the Deputy General Secretary of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Frances Akinjole.
Others include the Secretary General of ANAP, Abdul Rasaq; the General Secretary of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, Olayinka Abioye; and the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, Sikiru Waheed.
The protest stems from the unions’ clamour for the discontinuation of the deduction from the following agencies: the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau.
The TSA policy, initially introduced with a 25 per cent deduction from revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government in October 2022, escalated to 40 per cent shortly after.
However, President Bola Tinubu raised the deductions to 50 per cent in January 2024.
The unions include the National Union of Air Transport Employees, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals, the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees.
The unions warned that critical safety activities within these agencies are already being compromised due to the financial strain imposed by the deductions.
They further cautioned that they would not be held responsible if the aviation industry becomes dysfunctional due to these financial constraints.
The statement read in part, “All efforts on our part have failed to impress 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 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 upon us as trade unions and workers in aviation to inform the public and the government that we shall bear no responsibility if 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 mobilise for, and ensure full compliance with, the success of the peaceful protests.”
