Members of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), have threatened to withdraw their services at the Kaduna airport if the Federal Government fails to prioritise their welfare.
NUATE’s General Secretary, Mr OlayinkaAbioye, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja that NUATE members in various aviation parastatals under the Ministry of Transportation who had been engaged in ad hoc assignments in the past, had not been fairly treated, adding that the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), presently owed their members millions of naira in allowances.
“In 2016, we were told that the Abuja airport would be closed for six weeks by March 8, but the government, through the parastatls, has not said anything about the staff welfare in all the discussions that have been going on. The government must tell us what it has in stock for the workers.
“In NAMA, FAAN and NCAA, there are millions of naira being owed members of staff in these organisations. If at the end of February nothing concrete is done to show that they are going to get paid before they embark on that journey, we will ask our people to withdraw their services,’’ he said.
The NUATE scribe also said that the unions had not been involved in all the discussions on how operations in Kaduna would be carried out during the six weeks, adding that Kaduna airport lacked the required manpower for the operation it has embarked on, which makes it imperative that staff would be moved from Abuja airport.
Meanwhile, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has assured that all the workers that will be redeployed from the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja to Kaduna International Airport during the planned six weeks rehabilitation of the runway at the Abuja airport will be adequately taken care of.
Speaking for FAAN, the General Manager public affairs, Mrs Henrientta Yakubu said preparations were already ongoing to ensure that those to be affected in the redeployment are treated well in line with the FAAN’s condition of service.
Yakubu while disputing the earlier position of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), that the federal government had not said anything about the welfare of the workers of the various aviation agencies to be redeployed, insisted that it was not possible for FAAN to maltreat the affected workers during the six weeks period.
She attributed the position of the union to its failure to approach the FAAN management on how it intended to handle the affected workers before rushing to the media.
“There is no way any staff will be redeployed from Abuja to Kaduna without adequate preparations being put on ground by FAAN. Those who will be affected will be well accommodated with their allowances paid,” she said.
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