He said the unions were prepared to partner with the Minister of
Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen.
Hadi Sirika and other stakeholders in the sector.
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE)
has given a three-month ultimatum to domestic airlines to liquidate
outstanding debts owed aviation agencies in the country.
NUATE's Assistant General Secretary, Mr Olayinka Abioye, gave the ultimatum in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
NAN reports that some of the agencies being owed billions of naira include the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Abioye
said the union and other aviation trade unions were ready to assist the
agencies to recover the debts from the airline operators.
"We
look forward to a situation where the government will give the unions
in the aviation sector the coverage required to go and ask those who owe
our parastatals.
"Some of them see it as
a national cake but it cannot be so. How will airlines collect
passenger service charge, ticket sales charge on behalf of the Federal
Government which is to be remitted to agencies of government and then
embezzle these monies?"
He warned that the union, being the anchor for the industry, would not allow this to continue.
Abioye
said the huge debts owed the agencies had undermined safety of
Nigeria's airspace by hindering them from providing critical safety
equipment and training to their employees.
He said the unions were prepared to partner with the Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika and other stakeholders in the sector.
He
said this was aimed at ensuring safer skies, smooth facilitation of
passengers as well as making Nigeria a global aviation hub.
