The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has urged the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, to urgently harmonise the Aviation Road Map in the industry.
The union’s National President, Mr Ben Nnabue, made the call in the 2022 May Day Speech in Lagos on Sunday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that May 1, is set aside yearly to celebrate workers all over the world.
NAN recalls that Sirika on May 17, 2016, unfolded the aviation road map for the sector.
Nnabue said the union held the view that the projects under the Road Map required significant adjustments to harmonise them with current realities in the world of aviation and national interest.
”We also call on the Federal Government to urgently address the serious shortcomings of the newly commissioned international terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) to put the terminal to use.
”It will be a major disservice of this administration should the terminal turn out to be a white elephant. This must be avoided at all cost,” he said.
The national president thanked all members for standing with the great union this past year that had brought both strife and strides.
He said as the industry was about to get out of the effects of coronavirus, other challenges had cropped up.
Nnabue said the industry was greeted with the double punch of the Putin war on Ukraine and skyrocketing aviation fuel prices.
”Against the background of negative travellers’ reaction to recent airfare increases, these multiple adversities have been exceedingly crippling, particularly for airlines.”
”This has delayed the exit of our industry from recession. As expected, NUATE has been seriously challenged by the current pall surrounding the aviation industry.”
”Notwithstanding, however, the union has been proving equal to the task, even making notable strides to the bargain,” he said.
Nnabue said in the same vein, the union had given tremendous support to women and gender programmes and the young workers’ programmes even in the midst of scarce financial resources.
He decried the situation where big local airlines continued to defy the law on free association, union membership and the promise by the Ministry of Labour for his intervention had not been kept.
According to him, members of the union are left with their own devices to see to it that all aviation workers, particularly in Air Peace, Azman Air, Dana Air, and so on are fully freed from slave labour this year.
The union’s president also said in the coming weeks, important decisions would be made to chart a clear path toward ameliorating already stated demands of workers.
He charged members to take advantage of ongoing voter registration to ensure they were armed with their voters’ cards and ready to perform their civic responsibility of voting in all the forthcoming elections.
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