Aviation workers across Nigeria plan to organise a nationwide protest on August 21, 2024, in response to the Federal Government’s continuing withdrawal of 50% of key aviation agencies’ internally produced revenue.
The unions made the news in a letter headed “Save Aviation From Collapse” and distributed to journalists on Thursday, August 14, 2024.
The affected agencies are the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, and Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau.
The letter stated, “All workers of the NCAA, FAAN, NAMA, NiMet, NCAT, and NSIB, joined by the solidarity of all aviation workers, are hereby directed to embark on peaceful protests at all airports nationwide on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, to demand the discontinuation of deduction of 50% from the internally generated revenue of the agencies mentioned above through exemption.
“All efforts on our part have failed to impress it 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 unions cautioned that key safety tasks inside these institutions are already jeopardised due to the financial burden caused by the deductions.
They warned that they would not be held liable if the aviation industry failed owing to financial limitations.
“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 on us as trade unions and workers in aviation to let the public and the government be aware that we shall bear no responsibility in the certain event that the industry becomes dysfunctional as a result of financial incapacity due to the deductions at source,” they added.
In preparation for the protest, the unions have directed all state councils, women’s commissions, youth councils, and union branches around the country to properly mobilise and ensure widespread participation.
