Power supply to offices and quarters occupied by staff of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano has been cut off on the orders of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The step, it was learnt, is over the N500 million owed for electricity supply to the sister agency’s offices and quarters occupied by air traffic controllers of NAMA, which has spilled into years.

Sources said the air traffic controllers were livid over the development, describing it as an unexpected outcome by the same agency belonging to the government.

Miffed over the turn of events, members of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) have threatened to shut air navigational aids and safety services in Kano zone over the ill-treatment being meted on them by the airport manager in Kano.

A NATCA source, who pleaded anonymity, said FAAN, through its airport manager in Kano, has undermined other stakeholders, especially NAMA by disconnecting them from electricity supply

He warned that there would be a shutdown of provisions of air navigation and safety services in Kano, assuring that NATCA can guarantee that saying: “It’s not a threat but we must once and for all forestall FAAN’s intolerance and undignified approach to civil aviation safety standards and recommended practice.”

He argued that there was no synergy as government agencies supposed to be working together do not have internal mechanisms to sort out their differences

“How can a sister agency under the same governance be acting as if there’s no other authority or internal mechanism to adjudicate. Now he has disconnected both NAMA facilities and its staff residing in the quarter.

“As we speak our people have been kept in perpetual darkness without any justifications. If by Monday nothing is done to restore back the electricity, we will take action,” NAMA staff said. (The Nation)

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