Rahma Ahmed
By Ahmed Rahma
The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has called on the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to pay no fewer than 50 of its members in Aero Contractors redundancy benefits, having declared them since 2016.
This call was made by the president of NAAPE, Mr Abednego Galadima, during a chat with newsmen over the weekend in Lagos.
He said some of the challenges in the industry include non-remittance of pension deducted from its members, explaining how these will become thorny issues in the not too distant future.
Mr Galadima decried how the staff of Aero have suffered and how whatever was accrual to them since 2016 may have lost value having gone through recession twice and inflation countless times.
“The issue of the redundancy benefit payment of Aero Contractors has lingered too long, as you may recall, Aero is under receivership and they rendered people redundant since 2016.
“We are still battling to see that our members are paid their benefits. The time value for money has already been lost; I want to call on AMCON to see that this money is immediately paid so that these Nigerians would go home and get on with their lives,” he said
“To be fair with you, we know we have over 50 workers but the total money so far is still being calculated.
“The Aero management reneged on their commitment to giving every worker a letter communicating to him what is due to him so we can’t provide that figure.
“The airline itself has done its calculation but they have not communicated what each category is entitled to, based on what the union agreed with those affected since 2016,” the president stated.
On issues of non-remittance of deducted pension funds, the NAAPE president drew the attention of employers in the aviation industry to the negative trend explaining that if these funds are not remitted, it would amass and the employers would not be able to pay, stressing that it is another challenge waiting to rear its head in the no distant future.
He said, “We also want you to publicize some of the challenges NAAPE is having, particularly in the areas of pension. Employers, most of the operators in this industry do not pay deducted pensions of their staff as at when due. And you know as a worker, you always look forward to retirement and that is what we normally fall back on.
“Most of the private operators still owe staff, especially our members’ pensions; they deduct and not remit. We want them to be sensitized to know that this is not right, and by the time they accumulate it, it becomes very difficult for them to pay.”
AMCON took over Aero Contractors in February 2016 and in March 2017, the airline issued redundancy to over 60 per cent of its staff which saw endless days of union activities and according to NAAPE, up till now, no staff declared redundant has been paid.
