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FG asks aviation workers to shelve strike

By on May 7, 2014

The Federal Government has appealed to aviation workers who are preparing for a two-day warning strike over the merger of some agencies to forget the idea as it is still considering the recommendations of the Steve Orosanye-led panel.

The Supervising Minister of Aviation, Dr. Samuel Ortom, said on Monday while inspecting the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja to ensure smooth preparations for the country’s hosting of the World Economic Forum on Africa that the government was still considering the merger recommendations

He said, “The merger was done in good faith considering the spending in government, particularly on overhead. I have heard of a possible strike by aviation workers as regards this, but let me say that there is no need for that now because the government is still looking at the recommendations.

“There is no cause for alarm; where people have genuine presentations, the ministry is open to receive such presentations and we will forward them. We are still going to look at all those issues in totality because we cannot be in isolation in Nigeria as far as the aviation sector is concerned.”

The minister said his visit to the airport was on the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan, who ordered officials of the ministry to thoroughly inspect the Abuja and Lagos airports and ensure that the WEF, which starts on Wednesday, was hitch free.

He said, “This week, Nigeria is going to host the World Economic Forum and we have received marching orders from Mr. President to ensure that we have a hitch free WEF, particularly with respect to our airports.

“The airport is the first point of call when leaders come into this country, and therefore, we are here to do an inspection, tidy up and make sure everything is in place at the airport before the forum so as to create a good impression about Nigeria.

“We know we have not got there, but we have tried our best and you can see that the government has invested so much in the aviation sector since the transformation programme started.”

On whether he was satisfied with the state of work at the airports, Ortom said, “Our team has done a fantastic work based on the road map we have for the WEF. Everything is in place and where there are minor adjustments, we have pointed them out and they will be rectified before Wednesday.”

 

 

[Punch]