Following the negotiation committee set up by the management of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to look into the precarious situation of air traffic controllers, the Managing Director of the agency, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, has approved the allowances for the workers.
The controllers had in last November threatened to shut the airspace following a series of deaths involving two air traffic controllers that slumped and died while on duty.
Worried about the situation, Akinkuotu had set up a negotiation committee to submit an interim report and make recommendations reached to allow for immediate implementation as a stop-gap measure pending the submission of their complete report.
The committee accordingly submitted an interim report to the Managing Director on December 17, 2021.
On receipt of the report, the NAMA MD called for two working days during which himself and his management team looked into it for consideration and implementation.
The MD and his management team subsequently met on December 21st and 22nd 2021 and on the strength of the interim report, considered and approved that air traffic controllers deployed from other departments are to be placed on grade level (GL 12) effective from the date of their ratings with immediate effect.
Other ATCOs that recently acquired their A &B ratings are to be promoted to GL.10 with immediate effect from the date of their ratings while awaiting the release of the ATC Scheme of Service which will among other things secure their advancement to GL 12.
While the annual aeromedical allowance for air traffic controllers has been increased from N200,000 to N500,000 with effect from January 2022, the monthly remuneration of air traffic controllers who are on contract has also been increased from the present N400,000 to N580,000 resulting from the inclusion of the A&B rating allowance, with effect from January 2022.
Also, all ATCOs are to be registered on the gold plan of the customized NAMA NHIS which is to be implemented soonest.
The NAMA Management is also set to engage the services of a specialist to evaluate and define the type and level of risks or hazards that controllers and other technical staff are exposed to in order to consider an appropriate allowance as well as mitigation methods.
This according to NAMA is to be done in conjunction with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCAs’) committee.
The management has equally concluded plans to facilitate the expeditious approval and release of the adjusted ATC scheme of service as well as NAMA staff conditions of service without any further delay.
Other benefits to be enjoyed by the controllers include; operational vehicles to be reassigned for their use at Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja while management is in the process of securing more vehicles for other stations, using two proposed financing approaches.
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