Daniel Eteghe

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, branch of Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, has said the reason unions in the aviation industry want the agency’s concessionaires out of the airports was to avoid a repeat of what led to the liquidation of Nigeria Airways.

According to him, the refusal of the concessionaires to remit to FAAN what is due it has made things difficult for it to meet its obligations, including regular payment of salaries.

Only last week, unions in the industry, including the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, gave the federal government 21 days within which to revoke agreements with the concessionaires to save the agency from collapse.

Chairman, FAAN’s chapter of ATSSSAN, Comrade Ekanem Ekanem, said that if the federal government did not take any action in revoking all the concession agreement, the unions would ground all operations in the industry.

Comrade Ekanem, who fingered Maevis Nigeria Limited as the worst culprit among the concessionaires, owing as much as N17 billion, said FAAN could hardly maintain facilities at airports across the country, stressing that had worsen the state of infrastructure in the sector.

“It goes beyond the law of all natural justice and equity and this is a situation where we are seeing fraud in its nakedness, where fraud is been perpetrated by a cooperate citizen like Meavis and the Federal Government is not taking action.

“Then the more we are pushed to the wall, we are going to react either to our conscience or by appeal but must the Federal Government wait for us to ground the aviation industry before they take action.

“ What we want is that the Federal Government to set up machinery to revoke this agreement because this agreement goes against the natural justice and the whole thing is going against FAAN interest.

“This is a situation we are now in and that is why FAAN is running a debt of about N17billion naira, in such a situation what can you do. The Federal Government should as a matter of necessity and urgency review all concessionaires’ agreement.
“We have given government an ultimatum of 21days, if it does nothing, we will ground operations in the aviation industry“ he stressed.