Aviation: NASS orders Sirika to suspend the destruction of agencies’ offices

The National Assembly, NASS, yesterday asked the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to prevent the planned demolition of aviation agencies’ headquarters in Lagos.

The instruction comes in the aftermath of a two-day warning strike by aviation workers’ unions, which disrupted airline operations across the country.

Sirika, according to Vanguard, revealed the Federal Government’s plan to demolish several of the agencies’ offices in Lagos in December 2022.

The minister disclosed that the structures would be converted into an aerotropolis (airport city), highlighting that this was in the best interests of the entire aviation industry.

However, in a letter signed jointly by the clerks of the aviation committees, Senator Abiodun Olujumi and Nnolim Nnaji, they voiced their concern over the frequency of industrial actions and the resulting disruption of airline operations in the country.

They highlighted that most of the issues producing the uproar were not new and asked why they had persisted, noting that several of them had been a source of concern for years.

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The letter also directed the Minister to provide the committees with all documents pertaining to the various issues raised by the workers, including non-implementation of the consequential adjustment to national minimum wage by some of the agencies as agreed in February 2022, non-release of the reviewed condition of service by the relevant government, and non-release of the reviewed condition of service by the relevant government agencies for a decade.

They stated that continuous threats to demolish the aviation agencies’ headquarters, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), without alternative provisions for their regional offices were unacceptable.

“In order to avoid further escalation of the problem as a result of the federal Ministry of Aviation’s inability to address the concerns within this warning strike time, we are directed to request that you provide the following information to the committees:

Complete descriptions of the issues at stake
Actions taken by the Ministry and its agencies to resolve worker issues
Difficulties in implementing various agreements agreed with unions

“Any other documents pertinent to the subject matter,” the letter continued.