A
one-day warning strike by the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers
Association on Thursday grounded domestic flight operations in all
airports across the country.
Only international travels
operated by foreign airlines, and military and paramilitary flights,
operated in Nigeria Thursday, leaving thousands of passengers,
particularly at high traffic airports, stranded as they were caught
unawares by the action.
The general secretary of the association, Banji Olawode, told Premium Times
that the strike was to warn the government and its agents on the need
to meet the group’s grievances. He said the action may be called off
Friday.
Mr. Olawode said if at the close of work Friday, there
are no serious effort by the government to resolve the issues, the
association would have no option than to go ahead with an indefinite
strike planned for Monday.
He
said the strike was the group’s last resort following an apparent
refusal of the Federal Ministry of Aviation to address the disparity in
the salary of air traffic controllers and other professionals in the
aviation sector.
He said the workers had given the ministry
sufficient time since 2011 to dialogue with them without positive
results, despite the approval by the Salaries and Wages Commission to
the National Airspace Management Agency for implementation.
He
said the strike was supposed to have taken place since last February,
but had to be postponed to avoid disrupting general elections concluded
nationwide Saturday.
Mr. Olawode said members of the association
were not happy that the Ministry of Aviation had not shown sufficient
commitment to the peaceful resolution of the crisis, warning that
members would not look back if the government refused to act promptly on
their plight.
“In all the meetings we have held with the
Federal Ministry of Labour to resolve the issues, only the Permanent
Secretary has participated. We don’t know the commitment of the Minister
in particular, because we have not heard anything from him since this
crisis started,” he said.
Credit: Bassey Udo/Premium Times
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