By Daniel Eteghe

LAGOS -The Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, has threatened to take full possession of the General Aviation Terminal, GAT, from Bi-Courtney, if the terminal was given solely to Arik Air for its operations.

Chairman of ATSSSAN, Mr Ekanem Ekanem, warned Arik Air and Bi-Courtney, who are fighting  over the ownership of GAT, to desist from their wild goose chase, adding that at the expiration of the Build and Transfer (BOT) agreement in 2014, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, workers will take it over from Bi-Courtney.

He said: “At the expiration of the BOT Agreement in 2014, FAAN workers from Calabar, Minna, Sokoto, Enugu, Abuja, Kano, Port-Harcourt, Maiduguri, Ibadan, Benin, Akure, and Ilorin will converge in Lagos for continuous industrial action in the terminal to take possession from Bi-Courtney.”

He, however, pointed out that GAT was illegally handed over to Bi-Courtney but that there was an agreement between the government and the unions that GAT remains in FAAN’s custody until all matters were resolved.
Ekanem said that it was an act of deception for Arik Air, who acquired the property of the defunct Nigeria Airways, to hijack GAT as part of its property.

He further said that ATSSSAN will embark on a two-day warning strike to press home its demands for the cancellation of the contract between MEAVIS Nigeria Limited and FAAN.

He added that since the union had made several efforts to peacefully resolve the matter without any success, the union was left with  no other choice than to resort to the strike option.