NASS Directs Aviation Minister, Sirika To Halt Agencies’ Office Demolition

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika was directed by the National Assembly, NASS, yesterday, to put a hold on the planned demolition of the offices of the aviation agencies in Lagos.

The directive is coming against the backdrop of the two-day warning strike embarked on by aviation workers’ unions which led to disruption of flight operations across the country.

Sirika, in December 2022, unveiled the plan of the Federal Government to demolish some of the agencies’ offices in Lagos.

The minister disclosed that the buildings would be develop into aerotropolis (airport city), stressing that it was in the interest of the entire aviation industry

But in a letter jointly signed by the clerks of the aviation committees, Senator Abiodun Olujumi and Nnolim Nnaji, they expressed concerns over the frequency of industrial actions and the attendant disruption of flight operations in the country.

They noted that most of the issues causing the agitations were not new and wondered why they had continued to linger stressing that some of them have been in contention for years.

The letter also directed the Minister to furnish the committees with all the documents pertaining to the sundry issues raised by the workers which include non-implementation of the consequential adjustment to national minimum wage by some of the agencies as agreed in February 2022, non-release of the reviewed condition of service by the relevant government agencies for about a decade.

They noted that the continuous threats of outright demolition of the aviation agencies, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NAMA) headquarters without alternative provisions for their regional offices was not acceptable.

“In order to prevent further escalation of the crisis as envisaged by the failure of the Ministry of Aviation to address the issues within this warning strike period, we are directed to request that you furnish the committees with the following information:

Comprehensive details of all issues under contention

Actions taken by the Ministry and its agencies to address the grievances of the workers

Challenges in implementing the various agreements reached with unions

Any other documents that are germane to the subject matter,” the letter added.