‘Why aviation unions are reconsidering airports’ concession’

John Ogbe, the Secretary of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) branch explains why the unions are reconsidering their stand against concession. Ogbe who recently declared his intention to run for the presidency of ATSSSAN, one of the main aviation unions insists all workers’ related issues […]

John Ogbe, the Secretary of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) branch explains why the unions are reconsidering their stand against concession. Ogbe who recently declared his intention to run for the presidency of ATSSSAN, one of the main aviation unions insists all workers’ related issues must be resolved before the concession of airports is concluded.

Excerpt!

What kind of reform do you want to bring to unionism as you aspire for the presidency of ATSSSAN?

In unionism, we need engagement on issues; the final tool to use in unionism is strike, which should not be used all the time. So, we are going to create an enabling environment of trust between us and the management or governments to understand that all issues that have to do with welfare and union activities can be resolved on the table.

As unions, we don’t just call the shots because we are organised labour unions. You can even go into lobbying and advocacy when you want to achieve a particular goal. The best way to go around some issues is to soften the ground, make yourself available and come up with facts and figures.

What is lacking in today’s unionism is knowledge gap and capacity. I intend to build capacity as a union leader so that the union leaders too will be more knowledgeable in their engagements with governments and organisations. This would be done across the branches of ATSSSAN.

What are your plans for your members who work in private organisations in the system?

In my first one month in office, I will move around all the organisations that we have our members in. In ATSSSAN as we speak, we have 16 organisations where we have our members and out of this, we have about 11 private organisations while the government is about five agencies.

One of the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is that an employer is to provide the tools and comfortable working environment for its workers. These are the issues I intend to take up with the various managements where we have our members.

What is your view as a union leader on the planned concession of airports by the Federal Government?

In the last eight years or so, our position was a firm no to concession, but we have realised that concession is not going away. One of the major reasons is that the funds to transform airports are not available with the government. Aviation standards are global, there are no local standards of the aviation industry. You will agree with me that our airports are not operating to the expected standards and the government is saying it doesn’t have the resources to pump into this sector.

The fact is that Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is just the right way to go for everyone, but we are firmly behind our workers on the welfare and labour issues and all these must be resolved. That is where we are with the government.

 

 

 

In recent days, a lot has been said about the concessioning of Enugu, Ibadan, Minna and even Port Harcourt airports. The unions at the level of Joint Action Congress (JAC), have presented a common position on staff welfare issues. Once these issues are resolved, we don’t have a problem with the government.

 

 

 

What are these issues that the government has to address and the current position of the government on them?

 

 

 

The issues are not much; for instance, in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), we have three big airports -Lagos, Abuja and Kano, which are feeding the other airports.

 

In the contractual agreement of FAAN’s staff, you are employed as a staff of the authority, not as a staff of Enugu, Kano, Katsina or even Lagos airports, you can be in Lagos today and be moved to Enugu tomorrow.

 

All the assets and liabilities are in a pool to share from. Someone in Enugu is still drawing his pension from Lagos and vice versa. If the government is saying it wants to concession Enugu Airport for instance, there are pensions and liabilities that are attached to these airports. One of our demands is that the government should resolve our pension problem.

 

As it stands, FAAN is practicing two pension schemes – the defined benefit scheme (DBS) and the contributory pension scheme (CPS). Before the migration of the staff to Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), FAAN did not have the funds as of that time to move all their workers.

 

Right now, there are people on the other side that are still receiving pension till date and there are also some members of staff on the contributory pension scheme.

 

 

 

The workers are telling the government to sever everyone and let the concessionaire take over the whole airport. Part of our demands to the government is cluster concession, in which a concessionaire of any of the big airports would pick other small airports within the region.

 

Someone that takes Lagos, will add Ilorin, Ibadan, Akure to it, while the winner of Abuja airport will add Minna, Makurdi and Jos to it and so on. This will enable the capturing of the liabilities and assets of the airports and nobody will be left out.

 

 

 

Also, the third one is actual valuation, which is about N1.21 billion for the entire FAAN workforce. So, we are saying let the value of that money be on ground so that those who want to continue to be with the organisation will continue and anyone that wants to go can go. So far, the government is sincere with its engagements with stakeholders and the unions.

 

 

 

What in your own opinion should be the proper contractual terms of some of these airports, assuming you are to advise the government?

 

 

 

The length of the concession period cannot be determined by an individual; this depends on what the concessionaire and the government are bringing to the table. The financial situation determines how long it will take you to recoup your investment.

 

 

 

Given the negative experiences with some concession in the past, how do you think the pitfalls in concession agreements can be resolved?

 

 

 

The good side of this era is that we have the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), which is saddled with the responsibility of midwifing the end-to-end concession process. In the past, we didn’t have an ICRC, but with the coming onboard of the commission, such controversies of the past have been nipped in the board.

 

Also, engagements with the stakeholders and the unions will go a long way to address several of the challenges, even beyond the labour issues. The new method the government has adopted will help the concession exercises of today.

 

 

 

What becomes of FAAN after the concession?

 

 

 

FAAN as an authority will still be there; with what we are doing in Enugu right now, it’s a form of revenue sharing between the agency and the concession proponents. FAAN will still be running, but it will be overseeing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the concession process.