August 21, 2024, has been scheduled as a national day of protest by Nigerian aviation workers against the Federal Government’s ongoing withholding of fifty percent of the internal revenue of major aviation organisations.
The declaration was made by the unions in a letter headlined “Save Aviation From Collapse,” dated August 14, 2024, and distributed to the media on Thursday.
The Nigerian Federal Airports Authority, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau are among the organisations that have been impacted by the reduction.
The letter stated, “All workers of the NCAA, FAAN, NAMA, NiMet, NCAT and NSIB, joined by the solidarity of all aviation workers are hereby directed to embark on peaceful protests at all airports nationwide on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, to demand the discontinuation of deduction of 50% from the internally generated revenue of the agencies mentioned above through exemption.
“All efforts on our part have failed to impress it upon the Federal Government that all the Agencies are cost recovery, and not profit making, organisations. As such they cannot survive on half of their incomes under any model of administration or any other guise whatsoever.”
The unions issued a warning, claiming that the financial burden brought on by the deductions is already compromising vital safety operations within these organisations.
They issued a warning, saying they would not be held accountable if these budgetary restraints cause the aviation sector to go into a disorder.
“Information available to us indicates that some important safety critical activities of the Agencies are grinding to a halt under the yoke of the deductions.
“It has, therefore, become incumbent on us as trade unions and workers in aviation to let the public and the government be aware that we shall bear no responsibility in the certain event that the industry becomes dysfunctional as a result of financial incapacity due to the deductions at source,” they added.
The unions have instructed all state councils, women’s commissions, youth councils, and union branches across the country to actively mobilise and guarantee broad participation in advance of the protest.
