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A Vexed Exercise
Parastatal heads in the aviation sector halt further sack of personnel, following threats to ground the industry
By George Umunnakwe
Rowland Iyayi
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All may not be well in the aviation industry as mass sacks embarked upon by parastatals in the sector is gradually snowballing into a major crisis.
Though issues of airline recapitalisation, additional frequencies and work on the aviation bill which seeks autonomy for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), may have diverted attention, investigations by The Source reveal that meetings held with workers’ representatives to resolve the imbroglio have not yield positive results.
Professor Borishade Babalola, the nation’s Aviation Minister had hinted that reforms in the sector will not yield the needed results unless adequate and meaningful right-sizing is carried out. He did not stop at that, as a time frame was given to parastatal heads to carry out the directive.
Notedly, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), under the leadership of Rowland Iyayi drew the first blood. In a move that drew mixed reactions from stakeholders, Iyayi showed two directors, 15 Air Traffic Controllers, and 12 others, mostly on level 14 the way out of the agency. They were all affected in the hurricane that swept through NAMA on May 8, 2006.
Earlier, over 2,000 workers in the employ of most domestic airlines had in April 2006 lost their jobs. The airlines were working in tandem with a directive from the Ministry of Aviation that they should employ the services of two major handling companies: the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) and the SkyPower Aviation Handling company Limited (SAHCOL), for their operations.
Meanwhile, as stakeholders, and indeed the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), were strategising on the next line of action, the Federal Government in a volte face on the evening of May 8, 2006 sent Olarenwaju Shittu, an engineer and former acting Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) packing. He did not suffer this fate alone, as 24 others mostly on level 12 kissed their jobs goodbye. The government had hinged this move on dwindling revenue generation and several petitions against the one-time director of engineer services of FAAN.
This automatically set the ball rolling as the Authority barely a month of the hurricane that swept through FAAN and NAMA, sending about 52 management staff to the unemployment market, again sacked about 159 workers. They were mainly from the Directorate of Aviation Security.
The exercise, which a source in the Ministry of Aviation said had the backing of the presidency, were deemed to have involved those with offences ranging from possible complicity in drug trafficking-related offences, facilitating passengers with fake travel documents and swindling of passengers and other airport users. Other reasons adduced included ill-health, declining productivity, stagnating and redundancy and misconduct.
Hinting that the exercise has not ended, Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs of FAAN, Ola Ogundolapo, was quoted to have said that “the reform process for repositioning of the authority is a continuous process.”
Interestingly, with this in mind, a fresh list of 171 workers of the Authority, mostly from the Directorate of Airport Operations were approved by the Federal Government for disengagement. However, in a diversionary move, Borishade said those to be affected include those not qualified for the job they are doing and those with minimal education background.
“It is necessary to sack some of these people. Many are not qualified for their jobs. They only rose through the ranks. Some have school leaving certificates and they are on grade level 14. You wonder how they got there,” he told aviation correspondents at a forum in Ota, Ogun State.
But in a swift move to stop the sacking of the over 171 workers already pencilled down, NUATE in a letter dated June 26, 2006, and titled: “Release of staff conditions of service and not retrenchment letters,” warned the management of FAAN of the consequences that may befall it, if the action is carried out.
NUATE, in a letter signed by the Acting Secretary General of the union, Comrade Gideon Ogbuji, posited that it is very disheartening that the management decided to carry out retrenchment exercise without due process, as enshrined in the staff conditions of service.
Denying the drug-related offences, NUATE argued that “in as much as the National Union of Air Transport Employees is not against maintaining discipline within the framework of the organisation, it will definitely be unfair and wrong of your management to lump all the 159 workers by tagging them as ‘Aiding Drug Peddlers.’
“We had expected that your management will concentrate on staff welfare, but what we see now are sack letters distributed indiscriminately. This union can no longer fold its arm and allow your action go unchallenged,” the union said. “Ogbaji stated that by copy of this letter, all NUATE, FAAN workers are directed to mobilise for action.”
If the warning sent jitters down the spine of FAAN’s management, other parastatals in the sector, also fearing possible backlash urgently called a meeting to resolve the impending crisis. The meeting held at the conference hall of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and had in attendance representatives of each parastatal heads and all the unions in the industry however could not resolve the impending crisis. Though it was agreed that each parastatal should stop the retrenchment exercise, it was not however clear if the impending imbroglio has been resolved.
According to Ogbuji, “Management is willing to call for a fresh meeting. NCAA said they had less than a thousand work force, that those to be sacked will be re-engaged on a contract basis. That is, those sacked will be encouraged and their pay packet will be paid immediately, thus giving them hope. So why is FAAN not giving hope to their sacked employees?”
Although a fresh meeting to resolve the crisis was fixed, but twice it was postponed due to the public hearing on the civil aviation bill and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stakeholders forum held recently in Abuja.
Meanwhile, as sack letters are being distributed, the authority in the spirit of right-sizing has engaged the services of 800 fresh personnel. Fifty per cent of those employed will be sent to the fire and safety department of the Authority.
According to FAAN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Adeniyi Ajakaiye, letters of appointment will soon be sent out to the newly recruited personnel. "What we are doing is right-sizing, that is puting round pegs in round holes. People should not miscontrue it as witch-hunting or victimasation. Of course, those retrenched will be taken care of and their severance packages given to them," Ajakaiye told The Source. |
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