AMCON denies frustrating payment of Aero staff redundancy benefits

The Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) has denied frustrating any efforts in the payment of Aero staff redundancy benefits.

This is just as the company also stated that it had never defaulted in the agreement reached with unions in the industry.

Executive Director, AMCON, Aminu Ismail responding to a question asked on the redundancy benefits during AELEX Aviation Webinar II with the theme: Flying into Turbulent Skies, Safely Navigating Covid-19 Headwinds – Survival Strategies for Nigerian Aviation emphasized that the airline had been paid to the affected staff.

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According to him, every month, the airline sets aside certain amount to meet the commitment as agreed with the unions in the industry.

The AMCON Executive Director says, “Now, the airlines have been picking the payments, albeit because it is a struggling airline as its generate the cash flow is when it pays the redundancy benefits but every single month from operation there is an amount that is set aside in order to meet this commitment which the receiver manager has signed in the legal documents, it is a legal agreement and the company is respecting the terms of that agreement. I don’t know how the unions got the impression that AMCON would by any chance frustrate the payments of redundancy.”

Mr Ismail said they had never defaulted in the agreement signed with the unions, stressing that the objective of the intervention by AMCON was to save Nigerian jobs and save the airlines themselves, that is Arin and Aero. “The redundancy arrangement particularly for Aero at the time the airline grounded operations if we remember, the airline grounded operations for about 4 months and some of the staff have to be put on redundancy before the airline resumed operations and agreement was reached between the unions and the airline.”

“The time the airline closed there was no funding in which to pay all the redundancy as at that time, so it was a question of you either liquidate the entire assets and then go into a liquidation scenario or you negotiate and agree with the unions that we will keep the asset and come back into operations and be able to pay the redundancy overtime which was what was agreed, signed between the unions and the airline.”

He added, “We did not get into Aero and Arik just to submit our assets, we could have sold when that issue came, in every single possibility for as long as it is within the confines of the law and  within the agreements between the employees and the company which are managing, we will respect those agreements.”