Mass sack looms at NAMA

Shola Adekola, Lagos - 07.03.2008

The Nigerian Air space Management Agency (NAMA) may soon be restructured following directives from the Federal Government. The Nigerian Tribune gathered that already, the committee set up to look into the present structure of the agency has submitted its report to the managing director of the agency for onward submission to the Minister of State for Air Transport for approval. According to information gathered, if the recommendations of the committee are accepted, majority of those that may be on their way out would be general managers and directors because they were generally found to be irrelevant in the agency.

The committee was originally set up following the criticisms about the structure of the agency which many stakeholders described as top heavy with officers that have little or no business being at the agency. The critics based their arguments on the fact that a major chunk of the agency’s resources goes as monthly allowances of the officers leaving the agency with little or nothing to address other projects.

It was also argued that this situation has created bad blood among the staff especially the air traffic controllers and aeronautical engineers who believed they were not being well catered for despite the sensitive functions they perform.

The Nigerian Tribune however, learnt that even while the report is awaiting the minister’s approval, some of the officers to be affected by the report had started lobbying some directors in the parent ministry to frustrate such a move.

Reacting to the issue, Secretary General of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Mr. Ishaya Makut, described the move as a welcome development. Makut argued that the restructuring was a good move if it was done in line with laid down procedures. He, however, cautioned that the exercise should not be witch-hunt.

Also, a source spoken to in the house committee on aviation described the exercise as long overdue. According to him, the present structure in the agency was top heavy a situation which he said, always put the agency’s management in a dilemma every month when salaries to be paid.