The immediate past Secretary General of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Olayinka Abioye, has appealed to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, to shelve his plan to demolish Lagos offices of aviation agencies.

He said demolishing the government buildings which have been in existence before his foray into the aviation industry without providing alternatives for the occupiers of the offices would be counterproductive.

Daily Trust reports that the federal government and aviation workers have been at loggerheads over the plan to demolish Lagos office complexes of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The agencies have been asked to relocate to Abuja as new headquarters, but the unions said staff who had relocated are yet to be paid.

In an open letter to the minister, the former aviation union leader warned that demolishing the aviation agencies would not be in the interest of the nation battling with cash crunch.

He noted that the agencies that were asked to relocate to Abuja despite the high concentration of aviation activities in Lagos live in rented apartments.

He said, “My major concern here now is your continued threat of demolishing many buildings and structures constructed even before you ventured into aviation. What are your reasons and or justification for these planned demolitions?”

He stated that if the minister had done his due diligence, there would be no need to demolish “Government buildings that have cost so much money to build and threaten to demolish other structures like the EAN and Dominion Hangars as if those structures were built without necessary approvals.” (Daily Trust)

•Murtala Muhammed International Airport