The National Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE, has given three weeks ultimatum to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to address the grey areas in the Condition of Service, CoS of safety inspectors in the authority.
Speaking in Lagos, President of NAAPE, Mr. Abednego Galadinma said, failure to address the issue at the end of the ultimatum, the services of its members would be withdrawn.
He said, withdrawing their members may affect the industry with the forthcoming ICAO audit of Nigeria.
Engr. Galadinma also stressed that, the insensitivity to the plight of workers have led to the resignation of 30 qualified and seasoned Aviation safety inspectors from the NCAA who have sought employment with airlines and other international organizations.
He added, “these poor remuneration and working condition of the inspectors pose serious threats on safety as there are dearth of qualified inspectors to carry out safety oversight on operators and the few remaining inspectors who are over-worked and clearly de-demotivated would likely fail to satisfactorily perform their functions which are very critical to the sustenance of safety and security within the Nigerian aviation industry”.
The NAAPE president noted that, despite the strike embarked on by the unions in NCAA in 2019 over the CoS and the Aviation Minister’s visit to the Salaries and Wages Commission despite his tight schedule with the unions, nothing concrete had been done to release the documents.
He disclosed that, they have no choice but to issue a 3 weeks ultimatum to the NCAA to expedite action on the approval of the CoS or face industrial action by NAAPE.
NAAPE called on the Minister of Finance, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Salaries and Wages Commission and the Management of the NCAA and all concerned stakeholders to conclude, approve and release the documents within three weeks, “failing which our members’ services will be withdrawn and will be instructed not to participate in any Pre-ICAO audit activities”.