8 AVIATION WORKERS WEEK & AWARD NIGHT: Sirika Takes Stock

Oru Leonard

The Joint Consultative & Negotiating Council (An Amalgam of 4 existing Unions), Federal Ministry of Aviation held the 8th Aviation workers week & award night on Thursday, March 25, 2021.

In his opening speech at ocassion themed ‘The challenges of COVID-19 pandemic to the Nigerian Aviation industry: the path to recovery.’
Minister of Aviation,  Senator Hadi Sirika who was represented by the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Barr. Mohammed Abdullahi described the aviation sector “as key to global security”

He said over N100billion has been invested in the aviation sector over the last five years for airport equipment’s, staff training, and emolument.

“The government deployed resources to equipping state governments through various interventions. From 2015 till date, the federal government has deployed over N100billion to develop the aviation sector.

“When this government came on board in 2015, there were a number of airports projects that were abandoned, basically because of lack of fund and because of arguments over contractual obligations, so the government evaluated some of these challenges and committed funds towards that.

“The funds were used for airports upgrade, procurement of equipment, training of staff, settling of relevant emolument, navigation equipment, weather equipment and so many others. So it was whole industry intervention”, he explained.

He noted that the investment has paid off citing reduced cases of accidents.
“We have seen great improvement in our investment. In those days, the frequency of accidents used to be more but it has reduced. Most planes can land in most of our international airports at night, there are landing equipment that aid navigation, there are lots of improvements in the industry.”

The Minister disclosed that FGN will create National Council on Civil Aviation because some states have started embarking on establishing their own airports which calls for holistic coordinated by the Federal Government.

He said: “Most industries have what they call a council, for instance, there is a council for science and technology, council on agriculture, council on education, what they do is to meet with stakeholders from various states and look at challenges facing the industry and begin to address them.

“With states launching the establishment airports at the state level, I think there is need for the council to properly coordinate and regulate the industry.

“I support the call for the establishment of National Council of Civil Aviation. I believe government will look into it and see how it can be established, considering appropriate legal frame works,”

He also allayed fears that the council will take over the jobs of some agencies, adding that the government will consider the establishment of the council as requested by the unions.

“In spite of the challenges posed by COVID-19, aviation stands out as an important process of economy of the country. So, nobody can ignore contributions of aviation industry in the global economy today.

“Again, global security is almost strengthened when there is a standard in aviation security. Central to achieving this is the workers in aviation industry.

“ That is why the government has equally committed to deploy a lot of resources in improving the sector through various interventions,” the minister said.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Hassan Musa, said that the global aviation industry suffered devastating economic consequences, which most industry players described as tragic.

Musa, who was represented by Alhaji Dogo Sheu, Director of Human Resources in the ministry said after –effects of the virus , globally and Nigeria in particular, were yet to be quantified in real terms.

“As a fallout of this, Nigeria`s aviation sector is not an exception. It is a known fact that practically all segments and related businesses in the industry suffered huge losses during the period.

“Indeed, the affects and after effects of the current pandemic may be felt in long time to come. This is the current grim situation which has threatened the survival of most industry players in the sector.

“ It is my humble opinion that with determination, abiding faith, good planning, foresight and adoption of international best practices, the current challenges are essentially surmountable,” he said.

Speaking, Mr Hector Nnadi, Joint Council Chairman, Joint Consultative and Negotiating Council, said setting up the National Council on Civil Aviation would help the sector to be more coordinated.

According to him, “many ministries have theirs and have increased their outputs tremendously.

“It is on this note that the aviation unions wish to passionately reiterate the compelling need for setting up of the National Council on Civil Aviation.

“This has been the platform for most ministries to examine, explore, initiate, proffer and compare notes on key policy decisions or issues,” he said

Nnadi noted that the rampaging pandemic generally termed COVID-19, had become a reference point and a major turning point in the annals of human history, adding that the quantum of havoc wrecked by the phenomenal viral explosion in the world could not be over emphasised.

“This challenge has been the major and most important topic of discussion among experts, professionals, the academia and even the artisans on the streets.

“It is against this background that the Joint Unions in the ministry pondered over the factor and unanimously decided to adopt the theme for the 8th edition of the annual programme.

Highlights of the event was the Awards given to the HMA, MD FAAN, Airpeace MD, Perm Sec, Aviation ministry and others.

“ Recall that previous editions had examined contemporary issues affecting our immediate constituency (i.e the aviation sector of the nation`s economy) vis-à-vis global aviation industry,” he concluded.