Union wants good model for airports privatisation
- Plans strike over Airways’ workers N45b pay delay
Aviation workers under the aegis of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) have called on the Federal Government to adopt the airports privatization model implemented by many countries as government’s 100 hundred per cent ownership of airports they said is serving as a disincentive to many foreign investors.
This is coming as the union gave government a seven day ultimatum to pay the N45 billion severance benefits of former workers of Nigeria Airways Limited or risk industrial action that could shut down the aviation sector.
The workers through their President, Illitrus Ahmadu who made the disclosure while addressing aviation workers at the association’s secretariat at the Lagos airport.
Ahmadu said the aviation industry is at a precipice considering series of activities and developments that have continued to plague the sector.
He said aviation workers continue to get worried over the signals coming from government over planned concession of airports, saying the association has employed engagement strategies to ensure whatever model is adopted by government favours all parties.
He said:” As labour leaders, we continue to engage government to look at several options to better running of the airports instead of outright concession.
“We are confident the various alternatives to concession, including privatization, could be employed as has been done in other countries.
“We do not want our members to lose their jobs, so whatever model to adopted by government should be in the interest of workers and the country.”
The labour leader also spared a thought for workers of Aero Contractors Airlines accusing the management of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) of failing to inject funds into the carrier.
He said since AMCON took over the airline it has not done enough to turn it around.
He said:” The situation in Aero has put labour in a precarious position. If labour shuts down, it will not be in the best interest of all parties.”
He appealed to Aero workers to show understanding, as the options available to labour will not improve the condition of the airline.
But last week, AMCON said it has injected about N40 billion into Arik Air, Aero and other ailing companies in the sector.
AMCON’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ahmed Kuru, disclosed this while presenting a paper at the 6th Nigeria Transport Awards and Lecture which held in Lagos last week.
Kuru, who was represented at the event by Mr. Kamilu Omokide, a Senior Vice President at AMCON, however, noted that despite the investment of N40 billion “on very good terms”, prospects for the sector the situation still looked bleak, which compelled AMCON to appoint Receiver Managers for some of the companies, including Arik and Aero airlines.
The AMCON boss, whose paper was entitled, “AMCON’s intervention in Transport and Allied Sector; Achievements, Challenges and Prospects,” called on agencies that are saddled with the responsibility of regulating critical sectors of the economy such as aviation, to adopt the same template which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) used in regulating the banking industry.
Explaining the proposed template, the AMCON boss said such approach will ensure stiffer corporate governance in the business of aviation and other allied critical sectors; minimize risks, as well as ensure that the experiences, which necessitated AMCON intervention in Arik and Aero, will not recur.
He argued that the corporation’s huge debt would have been avoided if the affected companies had proper corporate governance structures that enabled them to take effective business decisions.
According to him, with many failed entities as a result of poor decisions that led to huge Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), the government had no choice, but to create AMCON in 2010 to mop-up the bad loans, thereby stabilising and revitalising the Nigerian economy.
He stated that in order to effectively carry out its mandate, AMCON purchased NPLs of about N181 billion from various banks, adding that 90 per cent of the loans purchased was in the aviation sector.
