…protest over poor welfare package
Flight operations on Wednesday were disrupted due to the strike currently embarked upon by staff of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja.
Staff of NiMet barricaded the headquarters of the agency, which is responsible for weather forecasts, including weather data for the take-off and landing of aircraft.
In a statement, Air Peace informed passengers of the possibility of flight disruptions and cancellations due to the strike by NiMet staff.
Sources at the airport told Nigerian Tribune that flights were delayed and, in some cases, cancelled.
Speaking with a staff member of the agency at the international wing of the airport in Abuja, Zibiar Aderoke explained that what “we are asking for is salary relativity.”
“We have many parastatals under the Ministry of Aviation, and we are one of the core and one of the most important service providers for the Ministry of Aviation.
“We provide weather service for the entire country in the airport environment for takeoff and landing. We give a lot of required reports that is necessary for the aircraft to land.
“We help the country to know when there is high impact weather, and we also partner with the authorities to disseminate this important weather information across the entire country.
“We do a lot of collaborative works in terms of research, we are also responsible in the Agency for the preparation of the seasonal climate prediction for the entire country.”
She said the information serves as a policy guide for stakeholders, especially in terms of food supply and sufficiency for the country.
“So you can see that everywhere you go, weather is important, so long as you can breathe, then you must appreciate the services that NiMet renders, and it is appalling that at this point, this kind of Agency that provides this kind of critical and essential service, the workers are denied every right emolument that has been given to their partners in other Agencies in the aviation industry.
“In the entire Federal Civil Service, this is one of the little few agencies where you have a level four officer that is not even collecting the minimum wage of 2019. I didn’t say the 70,000, our staff are not even collecting 30,000 naira.
“Some of them (referring to the staff) here, they are taking home 28,000 naira and they are saying that this is not enough.
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“How do you expect them to be able to meet up with their family responsibility and be able to provide quality services for the country?” Aderoke questioned.
She said that all the staff are asking is for the government to look into their demands and meet these demands before they return to their duty posts.
Also speaking, one of the unionists, Comrade Ambore Samson, lamented that the welfare of the staff of the organisation was really poor.
“Currently, our salary is so low that the staff cannot even cope with it, that is why staff are agitating for a better welfare relativity.
“We have the issue of a training, Meteorology is a science, it is dynamic that on daily basis, you have new innovations, you have new updates. So you need to be updated in terms of training so that you will be able to discharge your duty in line with the current realities of meteorology.”
He stated that the strike was indefinite until the government attends to their demands.
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