THE leadership of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), led by Mudi Muhammad, has called on the management of Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to continue the execution of its interventionist strategy that would ensure the survival of Arik.
Muhammad, while on a courtesy visit to AMCON in Abuja, said irrespective of the negative narratives designed to mislead the public, NAAPE, as an association, recognised the activities of AMCON in Arik, its huge investment, giant strides in Arik as well as the overall financial system stability and asset management in the country.
Mohammad was accompanied to AMCON by other senior officials of the association, including Ehiamere Okechi, Captain Jude Aduba and Egagah Alex.
The delegation was received on behalf of the management of AMCON by the Head of Specialised Asset Enforcement, Mr Usman Abubakar and Head of Operations, Mr Tinus Osikoya.
Muhammad said, “As NAAPE, we know AMCON’s intervention in Arik about seven years ago was to protect the airline and save hundreds of us from losing our jobs. We can tell you categorically that in the last seven years of AMCON’s takeover of Arik, the airline has stood the test of time.
“We totally understand that Arik survived because of AMCON, unlike what some people wanted us to believe at the time. Before AMCON stepped into Arik, pensions, allowances, staff salaries were not forthcoming and the airline was on the verge of total collapse because of its huge debt burden.
“Indeed, AMCON has tried but Arik still has several challenges, which we want the management of AMCON, led by Mr Ahmed Lawan Kuru, to address through the Mr Kamilu Omokide, the receiver/manager who is also doing his best based on the support he gets from AMCON.
“We are here to plead that AMCON should support Arik to get more aircraft into its fleet and as professionals who are passionate about our job, we want you to watch Arik dominate the aviation industry once again. We are making this appeal because apart from providing and sustaining jobs in the country, Arik is a great training ground for the aviation sector, which is critical to the growth of the Nigerian economy.”
The NAAPE chairman added that the way things are going at the airline, if further investments are not quickly made by AMCON, Arik may begin to lose some of its highly experienced pilots and engineers to some foreign airlines who are desperate to poach them, a development he argued will defeat the purpose of the Federal Government’s intervention in Arik, which would ultimately bring bad name to AMCON after such a well-intended intervention.
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