Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, on Friday held an emergency stakeholders’ meeting to address industrial challenges and promote harmony in the aviation sector.
Keyamo disclosed this in a statement signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Mahmud Kambari, and issued on Friday in Abuja.
He explained that the goal of the meeting was to resolve pressing issues affecting the sector in order to foster greater understanding, cooperation and progress within the Nigerian aviation sector.
According to him, the meeting was a follow-up to previous engagements with the aviation sector unions and the Airline Operators of Nigeria concerning the temporary suspension of industrial action by the unions on Tuesday.
He said that after extensive and fruitful deliberations, a number of resolutions were reached.
One of the resolutions was for the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other heads of aviation agencies to obtain a schedule of payments from airlines.
He added that the payments were to be spread over a reasonable timeframe, taking into cognisance airlines’ costs of operation and current economic realities.
“It was also resolved that the Directors of Finance and Accounts in all aviation agencies are to meet individual airlines to agree on a realistic repayment plan within one week,” he added.
Keyamo further recognised the right of workers to decide whether or not to belong to any union, and for workers to decide for themselves rather than management.
“As a result, the NCAA should immediately ensure that the unions have direct access to the workers of all airlines, only to distribute their forms for the workers to directly indicate whether they intend to join the union or not.
“Any airline that prevents this direct interface will be sanctioned by the NCAA.
“The parties resolved that a meeting shall be reconvened to review the progress and the state of the current situation after one month.
“The resolutions are the collective decisions of all parties,” he said.
Keyamo assured stakeholders of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to maintaining a safe, efficient, peaceful and sustainable aviation industry.
It will be recalled that recent industrial disharmony in Nigeria’s aviation sector led to disruptive airport picketing and flight cancellations.
The clash was between aviation labour unions and domestic airline management (led by Air Peace) over unremitted ticket charges, worker welfare, and unionisation rights.
