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•Passengers to get 100% refund for cancelled flights
By Chinelo Obogo
Workers in various aviation ministry parastatals were on Tuesday locked out of their offices as industry unions picketted the offices of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on day two of their warning strike over non payment of entitlements.
The lockout began when the unions which blocked major roads laid siege at strategic points around the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, causing heavy traffic gridlock on the airport access roads.
But unlike the first of the warning strike, there were no flight disruptions as flights took off and landed at the airports with the unions threatening to shut down the nation’s airspace if the Federal Government fails to meet their demands after 7 days.
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation Civil Service Technical and Recreation Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Sikiru Wahab, on Monday, withdrew their services from airports across the country as they commenced a two -day warning strike over the non-release of the reviewed Conditions of Service negotiated among four aviation agencies for over seven years and the planned demolition of the Lagos office buildings of some agencies.
The strike caused heavy disruption of flights on Monday as many airlines were forced to delay flight operations while many passengers could not access airports across the country.
Only yesterday, the General Secretary of ANAP, Saidu, who spoke at the MMIA, Lagos, expressed disappointment that eight years after the negotiations, nothing has been done to ensure the conditions of service agreement are adhered to.
He also said the decision of the Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, to pull down offices of agencies and parastatals in Lagos even when his tenure is ending next month is unacceptable.
“They wanted to coerce us to come to Abuja, but we didn’t go to the meeting. The minister wants to destroy buildings in the sector for a road map that was not approved for Lagos, even after the one approved in Abuja Aerotropolis, has been implemented shows he wants to turn his policy to law,” he said.
In a related development, the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, has assured that air passengers will soon start getting 100per cent refund of air fares anytime an airline cancels a flight. Nuhu who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Tuesday, said this will become effective once the new regulation is signed into law.
“We are reviewing our regulations to review what’s done in the past that gives some days for refund if a flight is cancelled. What we have in the new regulation that will be signed into law very soon when it’s all cleaned up is that if you cancel my flight, you should put me on another flight or give me the option of getting refund immediately so that I can make other plans,” he said.
“Without the passengers, we don’t exist. The passengers are those who pay our salaries. Majority of the entire generated revenue of the NCAA, 80% or more, is from the 5% paid by the passengers. So, they pay our salaries,” Nuhu stated.
He said flight cancellations caused by the strike have led to direct losses to airlines and indirect losses to the economy.
“From direct losses to the airlines and indirect losses to the economy because when people miss their connections, a lot is lost. I can’t say but I can guarantee you it’s in the billions. At least over a billion. I think I am being very conservative,” he said.
