Aviation workers’ strike results in gridlocks around Lagos airport

From Abubakar Yunusa

Abuja

Offices of various aviation agencies in Lagos were shut on Tuesday as aviation sector workers embark on a warning strike.

The offices shut were those of the Ministry of Aviation, the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

Members of the unions laid siege to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, resulting in gridlocks around the airport and its environs.

There was a heavy presence of security agents at strategic points in the area to prevent a breakdown of law and order as unionists chanted solidarity songs.

The Secretary-General, Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals, Abdul Saidu, expressed disappointment that conditions of service in the sector had not been implemented after eight years of signing.

He also frowned at the planned demolition of offices of aviation agencies by the Ministry of Aviation, noting that the idea was flawed.

“For over eight years, the conditions of service have not been implemented as the aviation agencies are functioning without governing boards and there are no checks and balances.

“The aviation ministry wants to destroy buildings in the sector for a road map that isn’t approved by Lagos State and even the approved one in Abuja hasn’t been done; so what is the point,’’ he queried.

Mr Saidu said the unions would begin a full-scale strike if their demands were not addressed.

Peoples Daily reports that the unions are demanding the immediate release of the reviewed Condition of Service, implementation of the minimum wage consequential adjustments and payment of arrears for the

Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) since 2019.

The unions also demanded the halt of the planned demolition of aviation agencies buildings in Lagos by the Ministry of Aviation for an airport city project.

The unions issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Ministry of Aviation and specific aviation parastatal agencies on 7 February over non-implementation of the minimum wage consequential adjustments and arrears for NiMet.

Transcorp’s quarterly profit falls by 63% amid galloping costs, forex loss

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) saw its net profit for the first three months of the year slow by 63.1 per cent as costs rose at a quicker pace than revenue.

Details of the company’s financial report published on Monday showed that it incurred N2.4 billion in foreign exchange loss, about five times the figure for the same period of last year.

The development echoed the ordeal of many companies in corporate Nigeria, where a prolonged dollar scarcity is pushing import-dependent businesses to the brink.

Marginally growing by 3.2 per cent, revenue came to N32.4 billion compared to the N31.4 billion recorded in the first quarter of last year.

Transcorp, a conglomerate of ten companies in oil and gas, power as well as hotel and hospitality sectors, generates more than half of its revenue from electricity generation.

Cost of sales leapt by more than one-tenth to N18.2 billion as the spending on natural gas & fuel, as well as food and beverage, surged in a quarter when Nigeria’s cost of living crisis threw the inflation rate close to its peak in nearly eighteen years.

The corporation earned 40 per cent more in other income and considerably cut impairment loss on financial assets. However, operating profit still fell, taking a battering from a jump in administrative expenses from N5.2 billion to N5.9 billion.

Energy magnate Femi Otedola is said to have racked up shares to the equivalent of a 5.5 per cent stake in Transcorp, making him the second on its ownership pecking order behind UBA Nominees Limited, which holds 9.25 per cent.

But last Thursday, the company disclosed in a statement the corporation was yet to be notified of the deals, executed off-market, from the new substantial shareholder.

Profit before tax contracted by half to N2.9 billion, while profit for the period plunged to N1.9 billion from N5 billion.

Transcorp, which announced two years ago plans to broaden its energy mix by setting up Nigeria’s first nuclear plant, increased its investment in property, plant and equipment eight times over in the quarter under review.