Aviation

Controversy over N1.8bn severance package rocks SAHCO

Barrister Taiwo Afolabi, EVC, SIFAX

—as aggrieved ex-staff issue threat to ground operations

Eyewitness Reporter

Ex-workers of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) owned by Taiwo Afolabi, the Executive Vice-Chairman of SIFAX Group have issued a one-week ultimatum to the Ground Handling operator to pay the sum of N1.8billion as their severance package or risk their operations in the 22 airports in the country grounded.

The aggrieved workers claimed the management of the ground handling company has failed to pay this sum being their severance entitlement since 11 years when the company was privertised.

SAHCO, which has since gone public, was an arm of the defunct Nigerian Airways which was sold to SIFAX Group in 2009.

But the ex-workers, who are 982 in number, said no fewer than 15 of them have died fighting for their entitlemenst while many of them are currently incapacitated.

They however gave the company and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) one week to pay their entitlement, saying failure to do so would disrupt SAHCO’s operation in 22 airports across the country.

Chairman of the former SAHCO retirees, Ochai Adamu, who spoke with newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, asked the BPE to intervene in the matter immediately, adding that SAHCO has handed off payment of the benefits.

He said the entire benefit was N3.5bn but was later reduced to N1.8bn, adding that none of the workers has got any money in 11 years.

Aviation unions, comprising the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) had on 31st of August wrote a letter to SAHCO that the continued refusal to pay the benefit of the affected workers “is a recipe for industrial crisis in the company.”

“We are constrained, therefore, to inform you that our unions can no longer wait helplessly and hopelessly as these victims die one after another without enjoying the benefits of their labour,” the unions said in the letter signed by the General Secretary of NUATE, Comrade Ocheme Aba, and Deputy General Secretary, ATSSSAN, Comrade Frances Akinjole.

But SAHCO in a reply to the letter insisted that the redundancy claim by the ex-workers is for the number of years they worked for the federal government and not for SAHCO, and directed that the threat should be directed to the appropriate quarters.

Aviation

Keyamo approves relocation of FAAN back to Lagos ,says staying in Abuja is waste of public funds.

Keyamo

The Eyewitness Reporter

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has explained the reasons why he approved the relocation of the Headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) back to Lagos.

In a press statement signed Mrs. Obiageli Orah, Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Keyamo explained that the initial relocation of FAAN headquarters from Lagos, from where it had been operating decades ago, was ill-advised which he said amounted to a waste of public funds.

The Minister further explained that those affected by the initial decision to move the agency’s headquarters to Abuja have since returned to Lagos as there was no office space for them in Abuja.

“We have noted the inquiries some Nigerians have made regarding the directive of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, to relocate the corporate Headquarters of FAAN from Abuja to its original base, Lagos, where it has operated for decades until recently.

“FAAN wishes to inform Nigerians that following wide consultations by the new Management of FAAN with stakeholders, which also involved the Unions, it was agreed that this was in the best interest of the Authority and the country for now for the following reasons:

“It was ill-advised in the first place to move the headquarters to Abuja when there was no single FAAN building in Abuja to accommodate all of them at once.

” Those affected by the initial decision to move the agency’s headquarters to Abuja have since returned to Lagos as there is no office space for them in Abuja

“Having returned to Lagos, the Authority would be liable to pay them DTA (DUTY TOUR ALLOWANCE) because technically they are working OUT OF STATION as their official posting is to ABUJA.

“The Minister has decided to stop this waste of public resources and rip-off on the public purse.

⁠”The other option open to the Authority was abandon the old FAAN building in Lagos to rot away and to use its scarce resources to rent an office space in Abuja for Millions of Naira of public money when in actual fact more than sixty percent of its activities are in Lagos given the huge passenger volume of the Lagos airports.

“The stakeholders and the Minister decided against that and to save the country this waste.

“The Minister has rolled out plans to get concessionaires to build befitting offices for the Authority in Lagos and Abuja and until that is done, the Authority will continue to manage its old building in Lagos that can accommodate all its Directors and senior officials for now.

“⁠Abuja continues to have full operational offices and the Authority has not scaled down operations in Abuja one bit.

“It is just the technical decision of where the Authority has its ‘corporate headquarters’ that has been taken without affecting the structure of operations as they are for now in both cities.

” ⁠In the near future, when befitting corporate buildings have been built for the Authority in both Lagos and Abuja, a final decision will be taken as to the location of the permanent headquarters, depending on the exigencies of the time.

“The Authority wishes to assure members of the public that it will continue to act in the best interest of the public and the country.

“The Honourable Minister is committed to making decisions that are in the best interest of the country, especially as it concerns public funds and will not yield to ethnic or sectional sentiments that will derail this commitment”, the statement concluded.

Aviation

News Alert! Pandemonium in Lagos as Helicopter explodes, crashes into building

The Eyewitness Reporter

Confusion and panic gripped the residents of Oba Akran area of Lagos when a Helicopter crashed into a resident building in the area.

According to an eyewitness at the scene of the incident, the helicopter crashed into a building located adjacent AP filling station and United Bank of Africa (UBA) and exploded.

The incident, which happened around 3:00 pm Tuesday, caused pandemonium among the residents in the area who ran helter-skelter.

Sources said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was immediately mobilised to the scene where four persons were rescued from the wreckage.

NEMA’s Lagos Territorial Office Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye who confirmed the crash, said rescue operations were ongoing.

He said details were still sketchy, adding that information would be provided as soon as they were available.

Aviation

Sirika, former Aviation minister, ‘jets’ into DSS custody over Air Nigeria controversial project

Hadi Sirika

The Eyewitness Reporter

The Department of State Services (DSS) has caught up with Hadi Sirika, the former Minister of Aviation over the controversial Air Nigeria project.

The former Aviation minister was taken into the custody of the secret police for questioning on the national carrier project widely believed to be a scam.

He was said to have reported himself to the DSS office in Abuja Thursday in a Range Rover SUV after which he was reportedly grilled for several hours over the failed project.

Sirika had, at the twilight of his tenure, went through what was later discovered to be a charade when he launched the multi-million dollar national air carrier, Air Nigeria.

The lid on what has now been described as a scam ”launch” was blown open by the Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Captain Dapo Olumide, who admitted that the plane that was unveiled as Air Nigeria was a chartered aircraft from Ethiopian Airlines.

Olumide had told the stunned members of the Senate Committee on Aviation that the aircraft was leased from Ethiopian Airlines and merely used to unveil the Air Nigeria logo as the real Air Nigeria project was yet to be operational.

The plane that was unveiled was confirmed to be over 10 years old and had previously been operated by Ethiopian Airlines and Malawi Airlines.