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By Chinelo Obogo [email protected] 07064781119
Unions within the aviation industry have accused the Director of Human Resource and Administration of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Wakil Adamu, of gross incompetence in handling issues relating to workers’ welfare and his penchant for demotivating staff and abuse of office.
In a two-page petition obtained by Daily Sun, dated February 6, 2023 and addressed to the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, the unions among other allegations, accused Mr. Adamu of ensuring that letters dated September 2021 bothering on workers’ welfare meant to be delivered to the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA), Capt. Musa Nuhu never got to him till date.
The petition which was signed by the General Secretary of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN), Frances Akinjole, General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Ocheme Aba, Deputy Secretary General of National Association of Aircraft Pilot and Engineers (NAAPE), Umoh Ofonime and General Secretary of the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), AbdulRasaq Saidu, alleged that receipt of letters of utmost importance to the interests of workers and the agency are never acknowledged.
Another allegation against him bothered on his refusal to organise promotion examination for staff who have not been promoted for more than eight years including his refusal to heed recommendations on how to secure approval of the NCAA Staff Conditions of Service from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission.
Mr. Adamu was also accused by the unions of using his position as a director to advance self-interests, insisting that they are prepared to provide concrete evidence of the allegations if they are called upon to do so. It is also alleged that Mr. Adamu is presently a Director in Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) thereby contravening Schedule V, Part I (Code of Conduct for Public Officers), Section 2(b) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended).
The section of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers states that: “Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, a public officer shall not (a) receive or be paid the emoluments of any public office at the same time as he receives or is paid the emoluments of any other public office.”
Daily Sun search on the website of JEDC at the time of filing this report listed Adamu as one of the directors but it is unclear if he is representing the Federal Government’s interest or is a director in his personal capacity.
Part of the petition read: “It is pathetically disheartening that our unions would be pushed to this present state of frustration in our relationship with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) through the ineptitude of the Office of the Director of Human Resource and Admin (DHR) of NCAA, currently occupied by Wakil Adamu.
“The Directorate of Human Resource is reasonably presumed to be the gateway between the management and the workers in any organisation; but reverse is regrettably the case in NCAA of now where: Letters that concern workers’ welfare that are written by the Unions to the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA), and minuted to the DHR, never got to the DGCA. Receipt of letters of utmost importance to the interests of workers, and by extension, the interests of the organisation are never acknowledged and even several letters of reminder on inactions of the directorate of human resource and admin remain brazenly discountenanced without the necessary acknowledgement.
“Of particular reference is a passionate letter that was written in July 2022 to the DG, after consultations with the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, to look into the stagnation of some level 14 and above officers, some of who have been on same grade level for as long as eight years without promotion despite having written and passed the required promotion examinations. Several other efforts, including at least two letters of reminder without acknowledgement, and personal contacts by our branch unions’ officers continue to receive outright disdain and neglect of the DHR.
“Also, several letters written by some Inspectors in the NCAA from February till September 2021 requesting for their proper placement to higher salary grade levels as was somewhat surreptitiously done for some of their colleagues, have not been resolved till date despite several reminder letters/memorandum from the Inspectors, the unions, and the Inspectors’ Director. This is coming at a time when the NCAA is losing several of its Inspectors and there are concerns on how to retain some of them.
“We may recall that this was among the issues that led to the May 2019 NCAA workers’ unrest that necessitated the Minister’s intervention. It is not our prayer to go the same route again because it is not good for the NCAA and the industry. Within the short period of his assumption of office in the directorate, the DHR has severally used his position to advance self-interests; some of the evidences we are prepared to provide when called upon to do so (if need be).
“In addition, the NCAA DHR is presently a Director in Jos Electricity Distribution Company thereby contravening Schedule V, Part I (Code of Conduct for Public Officers), Section 2(b) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended). Being a Director in another organization is obviously not allowing him to give undivided attention towards effectively discharging his duties as a Director in the NCAA. Also, a human resources director is expected to live an exemplary life to discourage other staff from following same path.
In light of Mr. Wakil Adamu’s (Director of Human Resource and Admin) exhibition of gross incompetence in handling human resource (workers’ matters) in the agency, penchant for demotivating staff and abuse of office all of which are already brewing up industrial crisis, it is the consensus of our unions that NCAA being the regulatory authority in the aviation industry deserves a competent human resource manager at this point in time to avert any breakdown of industrial harmony in the industry.
“We are daily inundated with complaints from NCAA on human resource management. Hence, our demands are predicated upon a dire need to positively address immediately, without further delay, the stagnation of our members who have written and passed promotion examinations and those that requested for proper placement. It is our conviction that the present DHR would continue to remain a clog in achieving this if urgent intervention of your honourable self is not invested into that office. While we have deliberately decided to make these demands without an attachment of ultimatum, it is our prayer and expectation that our requests shall be treated with required promptness.”
Daily Sun reached out to the spokesperson of the NCAA on Monday, February 20th, to get Mr. Adamu to respond to the allegations
