Passengers at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, have expressed worry as workers of the Nigeria Meteorology Agency vowed to embark on a nationwide indefinite strike from midnight on Tuesday.
The development, according to operators and experts in the sector, could lead to flight disruption across the country should the strike linger.
While some passengers are confused about when the strike would begin, many are already jittery about boarding an aircraft.
In a letter obtained by The PUNCH, the Union of Air Transport Employees, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals, and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical, and Recreational Services Employees, accused NiMet management of failing to honour agreements aimed at resolving prolonged remuneration issues.
“As you are all aware, our unions have strived strenuously over the past few years to alleviate the exceedingly unjust remunerations conundrum that has visited extreme poverty and consequent untold hardship on NiMet workers. These efforts have been largely without substantial results,” the letter read.
The unions expressed frustration over management’s failure to implement a partial agreement reached on January 28, 2025. “You are equally aware that the agreement between the management and our unions since 28th January 2025 towards partial amelioration of the above-stated condition has been honoured largely only in the breach.”
The PUNCH understands that all flight operations must get NiMet clearance for favourable weather before taking off from the airports.
Passengers who spoke with one of our correspondents at the Lagos airport on Tuesday expressed fear, thinking that the workers might have abandoned their duty posts already.
“I have prayed three times today. I am fasting at the moment, and I won’t break this fast until I land at my destination. What I am going to do is very important; if not, I will shelve this journey,” a traveller, Mrs Adedire Airin, stated.
She added that she had questioned several airline and airport staff about the development, but none of them had been able to give a convincing explanation as to when the strike would begin.
“I have handed everything over to God, but I am calling on the government to ensure that an accident does not happen,” Airin stated.
Another traveller, who simply identified herself as Aderinsola, also expressed worry about the development, wondering when the strike would begin, as she prayed for safety.
“I should have been flown since yesterday, and I can’t allow any further delay. Some people have said the strike starts today, while some say it will start on Wednesday,” she stated.
In Abuja, a passenger, John Thompson, said he was told the strike would begin by midnight on Tuesday, and urged the unions to shelve the plan.
“We’ve been told here at the airport that the strike will start on Tuesday by midnight, so we want to plead with the unions to give peace a chance and dialogue more with the authorities,” he stated.
However, an industry expert, Muhammed Badamosi, said the strike may not be able to totally stop flight operations considering the level of technology available to the modern pilot.
“Nimet information is as important as any other information the pilot needs for operation, but the truth is that technology has made their service almost obsolete now, and it doesn’t stop the pilot from flying. From my house here, through an app, I can check all the weather in the world, including the ones sent to pilots.
“Remember that NiMet is using the same technology which is available to pilots, Yes, you need NiMet’s briefing but even without that, you can still operate. We don’t call it forecast per se, because when you have radar, it can give you the position of the weather and aircraft too for you to plan for flight even as a pilot,” he said.
Repeated phone calls and text messages to the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, Abdullah Musa, to ascertain if there would be flight operations at the airport were futile as he didn’t respond to questions.
Meanwhile, a source at the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, who works at the control tower, expressed doubt that the entire agency would be shut down.
The source who could not give his name because he was not empowered to address the press on issues relating to the agency, stressed that NAMA would receive skeletal weather reports from NiMet and that would be what the agency would continue to make available to airlines for operations.
He said, “I think when agencies declare such a total strike, some key persons still stay back, such as someone from the forecast department, and I think that is where the little information we will be operating with would be coming from.”
Efforts to get the President of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, Galadima Abednego, on the possible impact of the strike were unsuccessful as he neither picked up his calls nor responded to text messages.
When asked what the situation would look like, perhaps, would airlines be able to operate under the circumstances of the strike, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Michael Achimugu, said he would get back to our correspondent.
Also, Tunde Moshood, the spokesperson of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, promised to get back to our correspondent on what the ministry was doing as regards the strike but never got back till press time.
Speaking with the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Ado Sanusi, he stressed that it was the standard operational procedure for airlines to get weather reports for aircraft to either land or take off.
He, however, could not confirm if there would be flight operations on Wednesday or not.
“It is a standard operational procedure that if there is no weather report there is no how an aircraft can either land at an airport or take, but I cannot confirm if there will be flight operations tomorrow or not, I can not answer that question.
“NiMet is responsible for the weather forecast, and we all know that. But whether NAMA has now arranged with them or not, I don’t know! But if there is no weather report, there cannot be flight operations,” he stated.
SOURCE : PUNCH
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