Labour unions in the aviation industry have alleged that the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) has not invested the funds needed to revamp Aero Contractors and Arik Air, which the Corporation took over their management when they were going under.
AMCON said it took over the airlines to resuscitate them and recover the huge debts the companies owed banks and other creditors, which the government agency absorbed in other to save the domestic carriers.
President of Air Transport Senior Staff Services of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Comrade Ahmadu Illitrus disclosed this on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos during a rally organised for workers in the sector to mark the Workers Day.
But spokesman of AMCON, Jude Nwuzor reacted to the allegation and said that the Corporation has injected huge amount of money to the two airlines, saying that by the time it took over Arik most of the aircraft in the fleet of the airline were grounded, while others were on maintenance checks.
He said AMCON had to rehabilitate the aircraft and put them into operations, adding that AMCON has been injecting funds into Aero Contractors and disclosed that the money needed to develop and upgrade the maintenance facility of the airline was provided by the government agency.
However, Illitrus lamented that since the takeover of Aero, the current management in Aero led by AMCON intentionally starved the airline of funds.
He explained that all steps taken by the chief executive officer in Aero, Capt Ado Sanusi to ensure that redundancy issues in the airline were addressed met brick wall, noting that the unions were reluctant to ground operations of the airline because such action might work against the interest of the workers.
Illitrus said that the unions would continue to negotiate with the management of the airline in order to ensure that the interests of its members were adequately taken care of and expressed hope that Aero would be revived by the current management if it is able to add more aircraft in the airline’s fleet.
“Aero has some prospects, but the management of AMCON is not willing to inject some money into the airline. The unions are in precarious situation, but we don’t want to shut down the airline.
An additional aircraft would be added to the fleet of the airline very soon. Once the aircraft arrives and another one joins the fleet, I can tell you that we will not be talking about redundancy in the airline again. The CEO is making his utmost best to ensure that the airline return better, “Illitrus said.
The unions also expressed hope that the conditions of service of government workers in the sector would be addressed very soon especially with the recent increase in the price of crude oil in the international market.
THISDAY
