Despite the federal government’s recent approval to reduce deductions from aviation agencies’ revenue from 50 percent to 20 percent, aviation workers have rejected the move — insisting that no deductions should be made.
In a memo on August 14, aviation union workers called on the federal government to discontinue the deduction of 50 percent in revenue generated by aviation agencies.
The workers had threatened to embark on a one-day strike protest on Wednesday, adding that agencies are “cost recovery, and not profit making organisations,” hence “cannot survive on half revenue”.
Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, had also asked the unions to stay calm while their demands were being looked into.
Less than 48 hours after the unions’ threat, President Bola Tinubu approved the reduction of deductions in aviation agencies’ internally generated revenue (IGR) from 50 percent to 20 percent.
Olayinka Abioye, general secretary of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), said the unions are yet to get a circular on the implementation of the president’s directive.
According to Abioye, a letter had been sent to the minister to intervene before the end of the month.
“It is a fact that aviation trade unions issued a statement that by Wednesday today, we shall embark on a rally across Nigerian airports but intelligence report suggested it wouldn’t be a wise thing to do,” he said.
“So we commuted that rally into a letter to the Honorable Minister, giving the Minister until the end of this month to intervene on this subject matter by getting the federal government involved to reverse the reduction of 50% imposed on all aviation agencies for very critical reasons.
“One of which is the fact that fundamentally aviation agencies under the federal ministry of aviation and aerospace development are not profit-making companies. They are agencies involved in critical safety and security issues.
“There are cost recovery agencies. So we are not making profit from the businesses we do, from the services we render. And that 50% has created so much trauma for the workers.
“We have not seen an official statement to this effect. We have not been officially served any letter or circular to that effect. And if we had been served, we would also have sent another letter congratulating the federal government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the honorable minister for doing a good job. But that has not come.”
