January 19, (THEWILL) – Aviation unions have expressed support for the relocation of the corporate headquarters of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to Lagos.
THEWILL reports that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, had on Thursday, directed the relocation of the FAAN corporate headquarters from Abuja to Lagos.
The Aviation Authority, in a statement, said the decision was effected because the airport authority has no office space at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Expressing it’s support for the decision, Aviation unions, including Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Union of Air Transport Employee (NUATE) and Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), in a joint statement on Friday, recalled that they had on several occasions expressed concerns over the hasty manner in which staff were relocated to Abuja when no adequate arrangement was made in the areas of office accommodation, infrastructure and other logistics for smooth relocation.
Signed by the Secretaries of ATSSSAN, NUATE and ANAP, the statement noted that senior management staff were left stranded without an office and working tools while junior staff were helpless with no provision for documents and working files while they were in Abuja.
The statement reads: “The recent instructions for redeployment of staff relocated to Abuja is a welcome development.
“It could be recalled that the unions have on several occasions expressed our concerns over the hasty manner in which staff were relocated to Abuja when no adequate arrangement was made in the areas of office accommodation, infrastructure and other logistics for smooth relocation. Senior management staff were left stranded without an office and working tools while junior staff were helpless, no provision for documents and working files and most worrisome absence of backup for data.
“It is our hope that if such a movement is required in future, all necessary infrastructure must be in place.
“We are also of the opinion that staff who have collected relocation allowance even though not sufficient should not be paid for this redeployment.
“We, however, urge the management to make Lagos offices convenient enough for staff to operate.”
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