The National Assembly has written the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika to as a matter of urgency, put a stop to his planned demolition of the offices of the aviation agencies in Lagos.
The Chairman, of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Biodun Olujimi, PDP, Ekiti South and her House of Representatives counterpart, Honourable Nnolim Nnaji who urged Senator Hadi Sirika to halt the move, said that the directive was the fallout of the two-day warning strike embarked upon by the aviation workers’ unions which crippled flight operations across the country on Monday and Tuesday.
In a letter dated 18th April 2023 and jointly signed by the Clerk, Senate Committee on Aviation, Franca N. Nah and the Clerk, House Committee on Aviation, Bassey E. Edem, the National Assembly however expressed concerns over what it described as the frequency of industrial actions and the attendant disruption of flight operations in the country.
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The National Assembly noted that most of the issues that have led to the agitations were not new and however wondered why they had continued to linger, saying that some of them have been in contention for years.
The letter also directed Sirika to as a matter of urgency, submit all the documents pertaining to the sundry issues raised by the workers to the committee.
According to the letter which was addressed to the Aviation Minister, the contending issues include:non implementation of the consequential adjustment to national minimum wage by some of the agencies as agreed in February 2022.
The demands also include the non release of reviewed condition of service by the relevant government agencies for about a decade, the continuous threats of outright demolition of the aviation agencies, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NAMA) headquarters without alternative provisions for their regional offices.
The letter read: “In order to prevent further escalation of the crisis as envisaged by the failure of the federal Ministry of Aviation to address the issues within this warning strike period,we are directed to request that you furnish the committees with the following information:comprehensive details of all issues under contention,actions taken by the Ministry and its agencies to address the grievances of the workers.
“Also expected to be submitted to the committees include: the challenges in implementing the various agreements reached with unions and any other documents that are germane to the subject matter.
“Equally, the chairmen of the committees of both Chambers have also implored the unions to shelve any more actions that will further prevent smooth running of the sector, promising that their grievances would be duly addressed soonest.”
