50% IGR: Aircraft pilots, engineers suspend protest
By Dickson Omobola
Barely five days after unions in the aviation sector decided to embark on protest over the Federal Government’s continued deductions of 50 per cent from the internally generated revenue of aviation agencies, the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE, has suspended the protest.
General Secretary of NAAPE, Olayinka Abioye, in a statement to its members, said there was an ongoing discussion over the issue, noting that the planned demonstration would be suspended in the interim.
The statement reads: “Consequent upon information available to us about an ongoing discussion by higher authorities over the continued deductions of 50% by the federal government, I hasten to inform our esteemed members that the planned protest scheduled for 18/09/2024 is hereby suspended pending the outcome of these discussions which we shall communicate appropriately to you all.”
Last Thursday, unions in the air transport sector including NAAPE, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals, ANAP, Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, AUPCTRE, Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, said they would embark on a protest on September 18 to demand the discontinuation of 50 per cent IGR.
A statement by the General Secretary of NUATE, Mr Ocheme Aba; Deputy General Secretary of ATSSSAN, Mr Frances Akinjole; Secretary General of ANAP, Mr Abdul Rasaq; General Secretary of NAAPE, Mr Olayinka Abioye; and Secretary General of AUPCTRE, Mr Sikiru Waheed, had said: “All workers of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, and Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, joint solidarity of all aviation workers are hereby directed to embark on peaceful protests at all airports nationwide on September 18, 2024, to demand the discontinuation of deduction of 50% from the internally generated revenue of the agencies mentioned above through an exemption.”
However, as of the time of filing this report, nothing had been heard from NUATE, ATSSSAN, AUPCTRE and the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association, NATCA.
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