NAAPE Wants Aviation Agencies, Airlines To Provide Palliatives For Members

The National Association of Aircraft, Pilots & Engineers (NAAPE) has called on “all aviation agencies and airlines to immediately provide palliatives to our members as a way of alleviating their stresses and pains orchestrated by the fuel subsidy removal.”
In a communiqué issued by NAAPE at the end of its National Administrative Council and National Executive Council Meeting held in Port Harcourt on August 8th to 9th, 2023, and jointly signed by Engr. Galadima Abadenego, National President and Comrade Umoh Ofonime, Deputy General Secretary, NAAPE commended the Apex Aviation regulator- the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on the successful formulation and signing of the 2023 Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations but observed that “that NCAA should fully implement the safety standard in the Aviation Industry as enshrined in the regulation and non-litigating reporting of safety matters. As we know, the industry has enjoyed safe operations in the recent past years, until the sudden recent incidences involving a couple of major airlines in the industry.
NAAPE observed that there is proliferation of the Aircraft Maintenance Engineering licenses issued by the NCAA to the untrained and unqualified candidates. The Operators leverage on this anomaly at the expense of the trained and qualified personnel.”
NAAPE frowned at the unjustified astronomical increase in the cost of renewal of Pilots and Engineering licenses and called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint and assign only an aviation professional as the Minister of Aviation.
NAAPE also observed that “the technical personnel in NCAA and NSIB are poorly remunerated which has led to high attrition rate among the technical personnel. The remuneration falls far short of the ICAO recommendation and industry standards. Therefore, call for immediate upward review in the interest of safety and to attract the needed qualified and experienced hands.”
NAAPE further observed that “the 2023 Nig. CARs. still retained the conflicting and ambiguous provision on duty rest period for Aircraft Maintenance Engineers, making AMOs to use AMEs for extended period beyond ILO recommended work hours. We call on NCAA to immediately correct or resolve this ambiguity.
NAAPE commended the extended role of the Nigerian Safety Investigation and safety Bureau (NSIB) and call for the training and retraining of her personnel for effective implementation of their mandates.
NAAPE observes an increased adulteration in aviation fuel, which has grave consequences on safety. We reliably gathered that most of the Fuelers are not licensed by the NCAA and most of the personnel involved in refueling are untrained. Therefore, we call on NCAA as a matter of urgency to consider establishing a Standard fuel laboratory, ensure only Licensed fuellers operate in the industry, and should intensify efforts in oversighting the fuel tank farms. NAAPE charges the Airline Operators to ensure that they audit the fuel suppliers before patronizing them.”
NAAPE also wants President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to exempt all aviation government agencies from the 40% remittance to the consolidated revenue fund, which impedes the discharge of their statutory responsibilities in the overall interest of safety of the flying public and insists that there is a compelling need for a National Carrier, calling on Government to continue with the establishment process following all due processes involved.
NAAPE called on airlines and other aviation entities to obey the labor laws of the land pertaining the rights of workers to unionize and freely associate without fear of intimidation. In the vane, we call on the Ministry of Labor to ensure full compliance. It wants all the aviation agencies (NCAA, and NSIB) to endeavor to pay their Inspectors and Investigators before embarking on any trip, either local or international, and ensure that the process is made seamless.
“NAAPE calls on the Management of NCAT to improve on the training of their Instructors and technical personnel” and calls on the management of NCAT to increase the remuneration of the Instructors and the technical personnel.