Nigerian Aviation Workers Announce Strike Over Revenue Withholding

Flight disruptions may soon affect Nigerians as aviation workers have announced a statewide strike on August 21, 2024. The strike is in protest of the Federal Government's ongoing withholding of 50% of the domestically generated revenue of key aviation agencies.

The unions communicated this decision to the media on Thursday, August 15, in a letter titled "Save Aviation From Collapse," dated August 14, 2024. The affected agencies include the Nigerian Meteorological Services Agency, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau.

A portion of the letter states: “All workers of the NCAA, FAAN, NAMA, NiMet, NCAT, and NSIB, joined by the solidarity of all aviation workers, are hereby directed to embark on peaceful protests at all airports nationwide on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, to demand the discontinuation of the deduction of 50 percent from the internally generated revenue of the agencies mentioned above through exemption.

All efforts on our part have failed to impress upon the Federal Government that all the agencies are cost recovery and not profit-making organisations. As such, they cannot survive on half of their incomes under any model of administration or any other guise whatsoever.”

The unions have alerted the agencies' management that the financial burden of the deductions is already compromising vital safety operations. They warned that if these budgetary restraints cause the aviation sector to become dysfunctional, they would not be held accountable.

“Information available to us indicates that some important safety-critical activities of the agencies are grinding to a halt under the yoke of the deductions. It has therefore become incumbent on us as trade unions and workers in aviation to let the public and the government be aware that we shall bear no responsibility in the certain event that the industry becomes dysfunctional as a result of financial incapacity due to the deductions at source,” the unions said.

All state councils, women's commissions, youth councils, and union branches nationwide have been instructed by the unions to fully mobilize their members to ensure compliance with the strike instruction.

This revision maintains a factual and neutral tone, clearly stating the reasons for the strike and emphasizing the peaceful nature of the planned protests.