Six years after the National Industrial Court of Nigeria ordered the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) to pay the redundant packages to the disengaged staff of the former Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCO), the bureau is yet to comply with the directive.
Within this period, THEWILL gathered that a large number of those who would have benefited from the payment have passed on due to untold hardship.
SAHCO was acquired by the Sifax Group in 2009 and renamed Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc. Before its privatisation, SAHCO was an arm of the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways.
After the failure of the bureau to comply with the 2016 judgment of the National Industrial Court, the court on June 7, 2022, reached an agreement with the BPE on how the redundancy packages should be paid to the beneficiaries.
A document obtained by THEWILL shows that both parties – former staff of SAHCO and BPE agreed that starting from March 10, 2022, all the verified beneficiaries should be paid within six months, which elapsed on September 10, 2022.
The ground handling staff, numbering 982, were eventually disengaged on May 28, 2010, less than a year after the Sifax Group acquired the company from the Federal Government.
According to the agreement reached between the new owners and the Federal Government, the affected staff were entitled to redundancy packages from the BPE.
The court had earlier approved the sum of N1.8 billion redundancy packages to the staff in 2016. The court declared that the disengagement of the former staff amounted to permanent loss of employment and therefore were entitled to the sum as a form of redundancy.
However, in a bid to ensure the payment of the sums to the beneficiaries, the unions of the former staff; National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), in a letter dated July 8, 2022 and signed by Comrade Ocheme Aba and Frances Akinjole, respectively, appealed to the BPE to comply with the court judgment by paying the redundancy packages to the former workers.
They also observed that the delay in complying with the court judgment was negatively affecting the staff who had been out of jobs for almost 20 years. But, the BPE in another document dated July 21, 2022 and signed by its Director-General, Alex Okoh, said that it was yet to secure the funds for the payment of the former staff.
The bureau, however, said it was “working assiduously” to secure the release of the funds and disbursed as contained in its agreement with the former staff. The document added: “Please, note that the verification exercise can only take place after the funds has been secured. Nevertheless, for the purpose of planning for a hitch-free exercise, we would like you to furnish us with the spread and location of the would-be beneficiaries.”
The former workers of the ground handling company had earlier in 2021 petitioned the National Assembly and the Ministry of Aviation over an alleged N1.8 billion severance benefit due to them from the handling company. The ex-workers, in a protest letter to the two institutions, alleged that the amount of money was what was calculated by the BPE when the former SAHCOL was acquired by Sifax Group in 2009.
The former workers, in a joint letter by their unions, NUATE and ATSSSAN, dated August 31,2021 and signed by Comrade Ocheme Aba, General Secretary (NUATE) and Comrade Frances Akinjole, Deputy General Secre¬tary (ATSSSAN), addressed to the Managing Director of SAHCO, had accused their former employer of withholding their redundant packages despite interventions from various quarters.
According to the unions, the BPE set up a committee to resolve the issue of redundant benefits to the 982 and turned in its report in February, 2020, stressing that the committee members, which consisted of all the parties to the issue, agreed on a negotiated settlement sum for the redundancy.
According to the letter, the committee further agreed that the BPE and SAHCO would be responsible for the payment of the severance packages, but regretted that both organisations since February, 2020, treated the issue with utmost levity.
About the Author
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
