..As stakeholder expresses fear over imminent system collapse
BY CHUKWUEMEKE IWELUNMO
Various unions in the aviation sector are seriously planning a mass protest against the minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo over what they call irrelevant appointments of management staff into parastatals.
Keyamo, towards the end of 2023, sacked all the directors engaged by the former aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika in the aviation agencies and replaced them with new ones.
Keyamo, also, appointed some of Special Duties created on the eve of the exit of Sirika in all the agencies which the unions vehemently kicked against saying, there was no need creating such a Directorate as the key focus in the sector remains safety and security.
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Investigations by The Daily Times, however, revealed that the unions have perfected their strategies to for a showdown with Keyamo in the coming days and have condemned the moves made by the minister
According to them, recent appointments by the minister does not reflect realities on ground in the aviation sector as they are now becoming apprehensive that safety and security may be jeopardised.
The unions, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals, Air Transport services Senior Staff Associations and the National Union of Air Transport Employees when contracted, declined comment on the matter and revealed that the unions have scheduled meeting to take their final decision which they said details will not be made known but to act accordingly.
The two worrisome issues slated to tackle with the minister are, the creation of new Directorate in the agencies, which they claimed was another means of crippling the aviation agencies by putting more financial burden on them.
They also condemned the appointment of Assistant Commissioner of Police to head the aviation security AVSEC arm of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria which they described as inappropriate and unreasonable
According to the unions, AVSEC as a highly sensitive department in aviation should not be left in the hand of a police officer without aviation security background in order not to compromise safety and security of the airport.
They argued that the general policing and aviation security were of two different things as aviation was mainly that of safety and security as stipulated in the Annexes of the International Civil Aviation Organisation
But a stakeholder, Mr Olumide Ohunayo who spoke on this development expressed fear that the Industry was returning down deep of the past with the creation of new directorates in the agencies
Ohunayo, who painted a gloomy picture of the future of the industry with the recent developments, said he was not happy with the appointments and extension of directorates saying in will negatively affect the finances of the agencies
He said the minister has complicated the multiple problems expected to resolved by creating and appointing directors
Ohunayo also revealed that some of the directors employed aides against civil service rules and placed them on the payroll of the agencies coupled with official cars.
“We are expecting that what the minister would have done after changing the agency heads was to allow the managers to act pending when an audit to restructure was carried out. Look at the head of special Duties, created from no where in civil aviation Authority, they will APPOINT GM, DGM, AGM, adding more to the monthly salaries of the agencies”
He noted that at the end, the airlines will be put under pressure and it will be passed on to the passengers.
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