SAHCO sacks staff accused of extortion at Lagos airport

SAHCO sacks staff accused of extortion at Lagos airport

By Chinelo Obogo

Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) has sacked its member of staff who was accused of harassment and extortion of passengers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, recently.

Daily Sun learned that when the issue came up, the ground handling company carried out independent investigations discovered that the affected staff connived with other airport workers and allegedly extorted N100,000 from a passenger who was travelling to South Africa last December

A source within the company who confirmed the sack, said, “I can tell you with certainty that our management has sacked the erring staff. Immediately we got wind of the allegation, the management set up a panel to investigate the matter. The panel found him wanting of the allegation, and submitted its report to the management.

“The management, in accordance with Nigeria’s labour laws, also implemented the report of the investigative panel by dismissing the culprit immediately. You should know that we are an internationally certified handling company with major foreign and indigenous carriers as our clients. We cannot afford to allow any staff or anyone to soil our name. We give them the best of training locally and internationally and we expect everyone to comply with the set standards. SAHCO has lots of exemplary staff who have performed excellently-well in the discharge of their duties. This cannot affect our hard earned image and we will not compromise in entrenching the best industry standards at all times.”

SAHCO’s head of corporate communications, Vanessa Uansohia, when contacted, declined to confirm the sack but insisted that the company has zero tolerance for bad beaviour, while assuring the company’s clients of utmost commitment to the highest standards of professionalism.

She said: “We condemn any act of extortion, harassment, unethical behaviour or misconduct among our staff or operations. The reported incident is contrary to our values and code of conduct that governs all our staff. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of corruption or misconduct and this case is being thoroughly investigated.”