Aviation unions issue 7-day ultimatum to FG

 Some aviation unions have given the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to review the newly -approved organogram for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) by the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

The unions, which issued the ultimatum on Monday, during a peaceful protest at the NCAA Headquarters in Lagos, vowed to embark on a warning strike if their demands are not met.

The unions are: the Air Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE).

Others are the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).

The protesters, who carried placards with various inscriptions, accused the Federal Ministry of Transportation of trying to create redundancy in the NCAA through the merger of key directorates in the agency.

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They also decried the non-promotion of some NCAA staff for well over three years due to lack of vacancy, which they claimed had affected the morale of workers.

In his speech, the President of ATSSSAN, Mr Illitrus Ahmadu, condemned the collapse of the directorates which included: Consumer Protection, Licensing Standards, General Aviation, Aeromedicals and Legal Services, in the new organogram.

Ahmadu, represented by Mrs Sarah Rimdams, First Deputy National President, ATSSSAN, said that the move was a flagrant violation of the agreement entered between the aviation unions and the Ministerial Committee set up to resolve the vacancy issue.

“Rather than address the vacancy issue to enable the promotion of our officers, they elected to embark on mergers of Directorates/Departments and the total constriction of the obsolete NCAA organogram.

“This will annihilate several existing manned positions of Assistant General Managers, Deputy General Managers, General Managers and Directors in the various Directorates.

“These to us, is a classic recipe for future redundancy which we will not accept,’’ he said.

Ahmadu said the unions therefore reject the new organogram, adding that the NCAA management, the Ministry of Transportation and other aviation stakeholders should urgently review the move in the interest of industrial harmony.

However, Mr Sam Adurogboye, General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, explained that the unions were within their rights to voice their complaints over the new organogram and that the matter would be looked into by the management.

Adurogboye explained that the collapsing of the directorates was done by the committee because they were established outside of the NCAA Act.

“On the issue of promotion, what happened is that everybody cannot be promoted when the positions available are few, so management has to use different criteria.

“Management is still looking at the issue and is considering posting some persons outside the headquarters to create more spaces for them,’’ he said.