By Chinelo Obogo
Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association (ATSSSAN) has re-elected the Assistant General Manager (Legal) at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Ilitrus Ahmad as its national president.
Ahmad emerged winner in a keenly contested election held in the early hours of Sunday, October 3, 2021 at the third national delegate conference of the union which held in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. He beat his main opponent, Ahmed Danjuma an assistant manager at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) with 49 votes against 34 votes in a race where 83 delegates were accredited. Danjuma is currently the ATSSSAN chairman of FAAN chapter.
The results declared at exactly 4:20 am Sunday morning also saw Jaja Emmanuel returned as 1st Deputy Vice President, Adekoya Olasupo as 2nd Deputy Vice President while Ogbuji Anthony, Daneyang Elisha, Amupitan Martins, Shonebare Omotola, Okponyaha Amoge, Aminu Sarafa, Atashe Innocent, Tobi Slyvester, Emetu Chukwu, Sofolahan Gabriel and Aliyu Bello returned as 1st Vice President, Treasurer, 1st Auditor, Women Leader, 2nd Auditor, 1st/2nd/3rd Trustees as well as 1st/2nd/3rd ex-officio. The new executives have been sworn in.
In his victory speech, Ahmadu promised to employ dialogue in addressing issues pertaining to labour and urged workers not to lose hope because of the negative impact of the Covid-19 on the industry, adding that, recovery is possible if all employers and labour to work together in amicably resolving issues for the prosperity of the industry.
He stated that, this is not the time to start having disagreements when dialogue would help to solve the problems. “I want employers and labour to work together so that we amicably resolve issues pertaining to our work force and prosperity of the industry, this is not the time for us to begin to have protracted disagreement, dislocation of services and stuff like that, so just like I have always stated, most of the achievements we recorded in the period under review were through table negotiations, dialogue, we will continue that to the benefit of the industry.
“ATSSSAN is one family, our focus is to bind the house, heal wounds and whoever is aggrieved as a result of the election, we want to assure them that we will work as a family to continue to foster the interest of the entire members in the aviation sector,” he said.