There is an uneasy calm in aviation agencies over the recent creation of new directorates which some workers are kicking against, Daily Trust reports.
Sources told our correspondent that some of the new directorates are creating distortions and power play in the agencies: they include Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
Under the reorganisation carried out in the twilight of the last administration, new directorates in some of the agencies were created, prominent among which are the Public Affairs and Consumer Protection; Corporate Services and Aviation Security directorates.
The Ministry of Aviation at the time said the creation of the Public Affairs and Consumer Protection Directorate was to put the agencies on their toes in terms of adequately addressing complaints by their respective stakeholders and overseeing the Public Affairs/Protocol, Consumer Protection, SERVICOM and anti-corruption departments, while the Aviation Security (AVSEC) Directorate in NCAA would regulate the activities of personnel, especially with their recent arms-bearing status.
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The corporate services directorates are to oversee the procurement, planning and research departments.
While the new directors appointed in the agencies have since assumed office, our correspondent learnt that the development is creating “distortions” in the operations of the agencies.
A highly placed source in one of the agencies, said, “There is an ongoing power play among the agencies over the new directorates. What we are seeing is unnecessary overlapping of responsibilities and power play.”
The Directorate of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, as well as the Directorate of Corporate Services, were described as “mere nomenclature.”
A source said that for instance the unions in NCAA had clamoured for the expansion of directorates to make room for career progression, but that they were annoyed that those appointed were not career officers and not in-house staff who had been complaining about stagnation.
However, in NAMA, it is a different scenario entirely where the unions are vehemently opposed to the new directorates which are allegedly populated by outsiders.
While FAAN used to have the public affairs department headed by a general manager, it is not clear how the general manager will operate under the present structure with a director as head of public affairs and consumer protection. this is the same with the consumer protection department also headed by a GM.
Presently, there is no GM of Public Affairs in FAAN, but there is an ongoing power play among some staff of the agencies to fill the vacant positions.
An official of one of the unions who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated that the unions at the national level would take a position on the developments.
He said, “For instance, we have been fighting against stagnation of the senior cadres and it is because of the failure to expand the organogram but the people they brought are what we are against. The situation is however not the same in NAMA where our people are kicking against the creation of directorates. There is a need for us as unions to sit down and take a common position.”
Recently, four professional organisations in NAMA rejected the creation of the new directorates which they described as “unwholesome”.
In NAMA, the newly created directorates are public affairs and consumer protection and corporate services.
But NAMA’s Amalgamated Professional Associations comprising the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA); National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE); Aeronautical Information Management Association of Nigeria (AIMAN) and National Air Traffic Communication Association of Nigeria (NACAN) in a communiqué after an emergency meeting said the last-minute reorganisation posed threat to airspace safety.
Presidents of the associations: Ngerem W.G (AIMAN); Rabiu M.S (NACAN); Engr Miri S.D (NAAE) and Agoro A.O (NATCA), called on the new government to look into the issue, saying, “The unwholesome regime of recent appointments and redeployment in NAMA” has “left a sour taste in the mouth.
“We note with chagrin the flagrant neglect of the Act that established the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency with the creation of needless directorates within the non-core services. Sad to also note that the new directorates created by fiat do not have any meaningful impact in the operations of the agency.
“With the creation of two additional directorates and units outside the core service and appointments of non-staff of the agency to head the departments as General Managers; thus side-tracking thoroughbred career personnel from rising through the ranks to such positions, is against extant rules and therefore not acceptable.”
General Secretary of the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Comrade Rasaq Saidu, accused the immediate past administration of creating confusion with the directorates.
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