Air Nigeria Staff to Protest Sack Today
Indication emerged Thursday night that Air Nigeria workers, who were sacked earlier this week will today, take to the streets to protest against the shutting down of the airline by the company’s chairman, Mr Jimoh Ibrahim.
The protest, which was announced in a statement, would be peaceful, and will start by 8 a.m. at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Wing 2 in Lagos.
From there, the workers plan to march to the office of the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
Ibrahim, the owner of the airline, had on Tuesday announced a one-year suspension of all activities of the airline and terminated the employment of all its staff, sparing only 50.
Both actions would take effect from September 10.
The staff have however decided to do battle with Ibrahim, and explained that he could not unilaterally sack all the staff on the pages of newspapers without following due process as contained in their employment contracts.
The aggrieved workers revealed Air Nigeria was owing them four months salary arrears, and added that pension and taxes deducted from workers salaries were not remitted to the relevant authorities.
The workers further alleged that Air Nigeria was owing the Air Nigeria Cooperative Society N56 million in members’ personal savings.
Speaking of the one-year suspension of activities, the staff noted that Ibrahim had made no plans for refunds to passengers who pre-ordered tickets.
“No plans have been put in place for all our passengers who have bought tickets to London who will be flying into and out of London from September10 onward,” the statement said.
“He wickedly wants to get them stranded without alternative plans or refunds.”
This is typical of the man - he just announces to the press what he's up to rather than following any of the due process with his satff
