Disquiet over 5% remittance to AIB as ATSSSAN kicks

Disquiet over the approval of five per cent of revenue generated by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) continues yesterday with members of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN) opposing the approval.

The approval of five per cent of Passenger Service Charge (PSC) which is the money collected from each passenger on domestic and international travels to another aviation agency has been generating divergent views in the industry of late.

Daily Trust reports that a passenger on a local trip pays N1000 and $50 on the international routes.

It was learnt that the approval of five per cent of PSC to AIB was granted by the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika even as AIB has justified the approval which it said would boost its activities; some of which have been virtually grounded due to paucity of funds.

But some FAAN workers are not happy with the development.

The FAAN branch Chairman of ATSSSAN, Comrade Danjuma Ahmed noted that a revenue of that nature cannot be approved for a sister agency without recourse to the law. Besides, he added that by compelling FAAN to pay five per cent revenue to another agency, it is like adding to its burden as the agency already remits 20 per cent of revenue to the federation account.

Besides, he pointed out that the agency, with over 6,700 workers and 4,000 pensioners, already had huge wage bills, unpaid staff allowances and pension entitlements.

Danjuma said, “That is why we as a responsible union have said no to that; we strongly object it. We sincerely acknowledge the fact that AIB needs funding but there are many ways through which the minister can get funding for AIB.