Rising from a meeting on May 30th, 2023, four unions in the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA) have come out to criticise the recent appointment and deployment in the agency by the outgone Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.
This is just as the unions flayed the flagrant neglect of the Act that established the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency with the creation of needless directorates by fiat within the non-core services stating that they did not have any meaningful impact in the operations of the agency.
The unions are National Air Traffic Controllers Association ( NATCA), National Association of Air Traffic Engineers( NAAE), Aeronautical Information Management Association of Nigeria ( AIMAN) and National Air Traffic Communication Association of Nigeria ( NACAN).
In the letter endorsed by President NATCA, Agoro A.O, President AIMAN, Ngerem W.G,President NAAE Engr Miri S.D, President NACAN Alh. Rabiu M.S the groups critiqued the creation of two additional directorates and units outside the core service and appointments of non-staff of the agency to head the departments as General Managers; thus side tracking thoroughbred career personnel from rising through the ranks to such positions, is against extant rules and therefore not acceptable.
The amalgamated unions demanded, “On the strength of the collective experience of members of the associations on the lamentable situation around the agency, we demand as a matter of urgency that the relevant authorities should immediately do the following in the interest of safety.
“A downward review of the 40% deduction on the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the agency the present statuesque hampers the progress of the agency;
“The government should review the recent creation of directorates and appointment into the agency by strictly sticking to the provisions of the act that established NAMA as a guide to the creation of new directorates, employment and appointments of non-agency staff to the rank of career positions. It must also be reiterated that qualified staff of the agency are given first priority before bringing in an outsider to take up any career-tied appointments in the agency.
” As a matter of fact, the practice of appointing non-staff to take up career-tied positions has demoralised the staff of the agency and should not be encouraged in any way. “
The meeting also pointed out that despite the subsisting demand by the National Salary, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to ensure the Agency has the financial capacity to implement the negotiated Staffs Conditions of Service (COS), the Agency is being forced to engage in the indiscriminate employment of staff into non-core service areas of the organization which has doubled the wage bill thereby having negative serious effects on statutory core mandates of the agency, human capital development, facilities maintenance/procurement and many others.
“We join hands with our member unions for the immediate release of the negotiated NAMA’s Staff Condition of Service (COS) in order to forestall further industrial action.
