 |
| Sen. Hadi Sirika |
The Minister of State,
Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika visited Aero Contractors’ headquarters and assured
the workers of the airline that none of them would lose their jobs just as he
promised to restructure the airlines.
Sirika addressed the
workers of the airline who occupied its headquarters in a protest of their "Indefinite Leave" at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
He told the workers that
the federal government would make sure that the problems plaguing the airline
was solved, noting that it is the responsibility of government to create jobs
and therefore would not allow any business concern to die under its watch.
The Minister who
identified some of the challenges facing the airline said he would meet with
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the management of Aero
Contractors and he would get back to the workers on Monday.
“I landed from Riyadh to
Lagos and before I left Riyadh I was informed by the people in charge in Aero
that things were getting worse and they have only one airplane operational at
the moment and I said to myself since I have time between my flight to Lagos
and connecting one to Abuja, I decided to come and see Aero and probably
discuss a few issues with the managers and possibly see the staff, but
unfortunately I came here and saw that there is a protest going on, so I had to
stop by, listened, discussed and came to an agreement.
“The primary purpose of
government, especially this APC government is to help to promote, nurse,
sustain, develop, keep businesses so that they can continue to provide services
and employ our people, so it is not the government of APC that will kill jobs
and close down shops; our intent is to promote jobs and promote businesses in
Nigeria so that businesses will be growing,” the Minister said.
Sirika said the workers
had the right to protest because they could not just be relieved of their jobs,
so he assured them that government must resolve the issues concerning the
airline to have it back on track.
“I think the protest is
justifiable and I agree with the issues raised, but we will look into it and
come up with a solution that will be mutually beneficial to all of us both the
staff, the company and government itself. I have appealed to the staff and they
have agreed that we will reconvene here on Monday and listen to each other and
also develop a road map and agree on what to do to rejuvenate the airline,
being a premier company in this country,” the Minister said.
He also observed that
although AMCON which took over the airline because of the toxic loans it owed
banks, but noted that the decision of the government agency was not out of
place as its mission was to sustain the airline, adding that now that it is
under threat, government would ensure that the airline was revived to continue
to serve the public and keep its workers.
“I think what is going on
now started some time ago. The reason why AMCON came to rescue Aero Contractors
or any other business was due to the wisdom of the government of the past and
we respect that wisdom and because AMCON is constitutionally established by the
Act of Parliament to take this responsibility, but in doing this job we must
look at the fundamentals. So if there is a problem of this nature we must look
and find out what is happening. We are aware of the problem of the legacy, we
are aware of the management problems and we are aware of where the planes are
and we are also aware of what has been going on with maintenance. So we will
try to resolve these problems,” Sirika said.
Aero Contractors suspended
its schedule operations in the country starting from September 1, 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment