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| Murtala Muhammed International Airport |
FAAN denies owing contractor
Flights at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport,
Lagos were for several hours disrupted yesterday following a strike
action by operators of the belt conveyor to protest against alleged
unpaid salaries.
The workers, in the employ of OTIS Nigeria Limited, a private company
engaged to maintain and operate the carousel, alleged that they had not
been paid in the last eight months, because the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was owing the contractor.
But FAAN, which manages all 26 airports nationwide, denied owing the
contractor, explaining that the industrial action was due to a “small
misunderstanding”. The operators are critical to the quick movement of
check-in luggage between the airport and aircraft, hence, what started
as an indefinite strike immediately left boarding airlines and
passengers stranded.
The Guardian learnt that agents of some airlines with assistance from
ground handling companies later switched to the manual movement of
luggage, but the need to have the bags identified by passengers turned
chaotic at the airport.
Among the airlines delayed yesterday are Virgin Atlantic Airways,
Qatar Airways, Kenya Airlines and Med-View Airline, as none could leave
without passengers’ luggage.Whereas the strike was short-lived and
called off around noon, the backlog of stranded luggage both at the
departure and arrival ends of the busy airport took hours to sort,
leaving some airlines waiting.
One of the workers said the industrial action was the decision of
their management “since FAAN has refused to pay us for eight months
now”. He added that the amount was huge and “it is affecting all of us.
We have families too, so we cannot just continue this way.”
It was further gathered that a disagreement between FAAN and the
contractor has dragged on for a while, with the agency insisting on the
replacement of the contractor. The company was engaged in 2012 by the
then Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.
A source close to the terminal said: “The contractor has been on the
issue with FAAN for several months, but the feeler they receive is that
FAAN may not be willing to continue with the contractual agreement as
the contractor was brought on board in 2012 by Stella Oduah.
“The problem we have is that most of these companies are owned by
those who contracted them while they use some persons as fronts. You
will recall that the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika
recently called for a review of the concession agreements in the sector
and OTIS is one of the companies affected by this directive.”
The Spokesperson of FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu, denied claims that the
contractor was owed to warrant a strike by its workers.Yakubu said the
development was due to a misunderstanding, perhaps between the
contractor and its employees, “but I have confirmed from the Director of
Finance that FAAN is not owing them”.
“Right now, the misunderstanding has been resolved and they are back
to work and flight operations are going on as planned,” Yakubu
said.Efforts to reach representative of OTIS Nigeria Limited were
unsuccessful. Some of the workers who resumed services yesterday
afternoon, however, said they had been ordered to suspend the strike by
their employer, with an assurance that they would soon be paid.
