By Chinelo Obogo [email protected]
Controversy has continued to trail the recent directive by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, for offices of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in Lagos to be immediately demolished.
The aviation unions have however threatened to resist the directive while questioning the minister’s decision to proceed with the concession of four international airports amid a myriad of labour issues yet to be resolved.
Aviation workers threaten shutdown over demolition notice
At the headquarters of FAAN on Thursday, the Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN), the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) held an emergency congress where they vowed to resist the minister’s directive for the offices of the agencies to be demolished for an aerotroplolis project to be built.
Secretary General of NUATE, Ocheme Abah, who spoke on behalf of the unions,observed that for very inexplicable reasons none of the minister’s projects has been delivered to date against which reason, he has been in a frenzy to deliver the projects, for an administration that is at its twilight. He said this rush to deliver at all cost has caused suspicion and a plethora of missteps which he said if not corrected, will spell doom for the aviation industry.
“We place on record our recognition of the large footprints of the Muhammadu Buhari administration on the aviation industry in Nigeria. The progress registered through the efforts of Sirika and the CEOs of the agencies in the past seven years, are indelible. Though not visible to the larger public, huge modernisation programmes and projects have been achieved in the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NiMet), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigerian Air Space Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). These achievements have not only significantly improved flying experience in the Nigerian air space, but have had big impact on human capacity development and safety.
“However, our hearts are now greatly troubled to be witnesses to the ongoing bastardisation of the lofty objectives of the Aviation Road Map. Activities around the implementation of the road map tend to suggest that a ploy is afoot to deny Nigeria the benefits of its labour and natural endowments, or to divert such to private ends.According to the unions, nothing evidences this more than the fact that key decisions and actions around the projects are taken outside the statutory organs of the ICRC; the Project Delivery Team in which our unions are represented for example. Such important questionable actions include appointment of Transaction Advisers and approval of Business Cases for all the projects,” he said.
Airport concessioning
Abah said that ever since the decision to concession the four most major airports was taken, the unions have remained strongly opposed to the idea and when the Outline Business case was made open to the public, they have been firm and vehement in their opposition to the type of concessioning envisioned by the Transaction Adviser.
“We unearthed several booby traps, outright falsehoods and deliberate manipulation of facts to skew the transaction against the interest of Nigeria, which we communicated to the Minister and other arms of government.
“Some of the loopholes we found include: Extending the scope of the concession to the surroundings of the terminals, up to FAAN housing estates without taking such into account in the assets valuation; arbitrary fixing of profit sharing ratio (60:40) in favour of the concessionaire; laying the ostrich in connection with existing concessions and plethora of live litigations over the airports to be concessioned; being dangerously silent on labour issues.
“While stating that the terminals require no further investments for the envisaged period of the concession, yet without any real basis determined, humongous investment budgets for intending concessionaires have been observed. There is also the issue of overlooking the wiser choice of going for management contract option instead of concession, considering that the airports in question are all brand new; Overlooking the very serious implication of handing such important national security assets over to foreigners.
“Based on these and many more issues raised by us over the obnoxious OBC, the FAAN management set up a management/Unions Committee to scrutinise our objections. The Committee, which consisted of representatives from Ministry of Aviation, the ICRC, the management of FAAN and the unions failed to offer any pragmatic solution to the imbroglio. Not even the Transaction Adviser himself could explain the OBC.
“Following the stalemate, another approach was proffered which brought about visitations to international airports in other countries being operated under concession. Since our return from the visitations, we have been clamouring for the reconvening of the joint committee to afford the ventilation of the experiences garnered from the visits, but to no avail. Instead, the Minister has now quickened the tempo of the implementation of the concession while remaining under the umbrella of the obnoxious OBC, thereby leaving the Unions and FAAN staff/pensioners in limbo,” he said.
Unions reject concessioning
Abah said it has become imperative for the unions to take actions to safeguard the interests of the workers and that the following action plan will be implemented immediately.
The unions have asked on the Federal Executive Council to halt further approvals on the airports concession programme and any other Aviation Road Map project, pending a comprehensive forensic audit of the projects undertaken up to this point. They said it is their firm belief that such audit will expose the activities to be wasteful of public funds, and to be tilted away from national good. They also said it is the least the Council can do in order to redeem itself, in the face of the accusation that the Federal Executive Council has so far been railroaded into giving consent to bad deals for the country.
“We call on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and Civil Society Organisations to mobilise all Nigerian workers to join in our effort to rescue our common patrimony from the grasp of the powers that be in the aviation industry.
“We call on FAAN staff, pensioners and the entire aviation workers, to stand ready for the fight of our lives in defense of our genuine rights and interests, and to save our industry from ruination. We also call on all patriotic Nigerians to join this once and for all battle to tell our elected leaders that our national assets do not belong to the few opportune individuals in government and their cronies for them to share and plunder, nor do they have powers to act as they please over national interests without our consent.
“We urge all firms that are interested in partaking in the opportunities inherent in the Aviation Road Map to wait a while and not commit their useful funds to the current arrangements in respect of the road map projects. Any firm that chooses to neglect this advice does so at its own peril, for our Unions will do everything rightly possible to ensure that all such unwholesome efforts do not bear fruit until the right things are done. Particular reference must be made to the airport concession bidders and those related to Nigeria Air.
Aviation workers reject planned demolition
Abah said the unions want the aviation minister to put his plan to demolish the Headquarters of FAAN, NAMA, and NCAA in Lagos on hold pending proper evaluation, planning and better timing, saying, “We consider that this plan, in the name of the so called aerotropolis, is ill intended, ill advised, and wrongly timed. We hereby serve notice that any attempt to demolish any of these buildings at this time will be met with immediate action of cessation of work at all airports in Nigeria accompanied by public demonstrations nationwide.
“We call for an urgent review of the Concession of the MMA2 being operated by Bi-Courtney Aviation. The continuation of this concession without a valid agreement with FAAN, and the unending alterations of the concession period by the concessionaire unilaterally without challenge is clear evidence that those in power care little about national interest. Our unions will commence our dissent against the current opaque exercise by declaring operation occupy of the MMA2 in conjunction with the NLC, TUC, and Civil Society,” he said.
National carrier
On the national carrier, Abah said the unions want aviation stakeholders to condemn the intention of the Ministry of Aviation to cede majority shareholding in the national carrier, Nigeria Air, to Ethiopian Airlines.
He said, “This intention is perplexingly self-defeating and a complete negation of all the objectives earlier canvassed for the setting up of the national carrier. And we have no choice than to call for the outright cancellation of the plan. What we want is a national carrier that will, through hard work, surpass Ethiopian Airlines and compete with other global airlines, and not a shameful appendage of Ethiopian airlines. If Nigeria wishes to join forces with Ethiopia to form a mega African carrier, that would be a noble thing. But then, the two parties should determine the form of partnership in a manner befitting our status, that enhances attainment of our civil aviation objectives and goals, and which does credit to our national pride. The decision to gift our Bilateral Air Services Agreements to Ethiopian Airlines for a mere 5percent shareholding in our national carrier beats all reasoning and must be rescinded without argument.
“To this end, the airports concessions must be subjected to thorough scrutiny to ensure that all valid interests are protected and that the cause of the nation is properly served. The national carrier must be steered away from stunted growth. The proposed national hangar should integrate the Akwa Ibom MRO that has already reached advanced stage, together with other smaller MROs, rather than another grandiose, wasteful startup which has potential for capital flight and emasculation of other outfits.”