Passengers were forced to miss their flights yesterday morning and many airport workers were stranded as organised labour led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) locked down the Nnamdi Azikiwe International, Abuja, and the Sam Mbakwe International Airport in Owerri, Imo State.
In Abuja, business owners around the airport and airlines, which cancelled their flights to Imo, recorded financial losses.
The Abuja protest by labour caused a gridlock on the airport routes while those of Imo were deserted as aviation workers and other stakeholders stayed away from work.
The protesters in Abuja demanded the cancellation of flights going to Imo State capital, Owerri, as part of their efforts to enforce the industrial action in the state.
One of the protesters identified as John said this was part of a series of actions that the two labour unions bring on Imo State following the attack on the NLC president, Joe Ajaero.
Ajaero was brutalised in the state recently when he led a protest march against the Governor Hope Uzodinma administration for anti-Labour policies.
Also, a worker at the airport, Christopher Wilson, while confirming the protest, said the workers' unions had commenced a procession heading to the airport.
He said they blocked both the entry and exit ways of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, thereby causing flight delays, missing of flights and total disruption of activities around the airport.
He also said the organised labour gathered at the airport at about 8:58 a.m. to enforce their directive on members working in the aviation sector to stop all flights to Owerri.
The protesters attempted to enter the airport but were stopped by the military at the checkpoint. As a result of the refusal, the protesters blocked the entry and exit points of the airport, causing heavy traffic gridlock of vehicles on both sides, thereby forcing travellers to make their way into the airport on foot.
The gridlock which extended to Sauka Airport road grounded activities as people travelling in and out of Abuja were forced to disembark from their vehicles and walk long distances while others patronized commercial motorcyclists.
One of the taxi operators, who plies the airport route, Mr Moses, told LEADERSHIP via phone that he spent over five hours in the gridlock as there was no way of turning around after entering the gridlock.
He said he lost both fuel and time.
Also, Madam Chioma, who sells food at the airport said she could not access the airport after the blockade and had to miss out on today's businesses.
The NLC and TUC declared a nationwide strike, which will commence on Tuesday, November 14th, also because of the face-off with the Imo State Government.
However, LEADERSHIP gathered that the airlines flying the routes, Air Peace, Dana Air and United Nigeria, rescheduled their flights, thereby incurring a huge loss worth over N500 million.
Passengers expressed disappointment, saying their schedules were disrupted by the disagreement between the labour and the Imo state government.
A passenger working with a federal government agency, Kolade Olakunle, confirmed to LEADERSHIP Friday that his flight from Owerri to Lagos was cancelled.
According to him, he was supposed to be in Lagos for a meeting but had to cancel the trip due to the NLC/Imo government face-off.
The spokesman of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, said the airline cancelled all its Owerri-bound flights yesterday, which amounted to a loss of over N45 million.
According to him, the company has asked their passengers to reschedule their flights.
He said, "We cancelled both Abuja-Owerri and Lagos-Owerri flights today (yesterday). With these cancellations, we lost over N45 million. No one knows when it will end. We engage the passengers and gave them the opportunities to make their decisions on when to fly," he said.
Air Peace airlines, on its own, cancelled four flights in and out of Owerri. They were Lagos and Abuja-bound flights.
Why We Shut Down Abuja Airport - Labour
In its reaction, organised labour yesterday said it shut down activities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to compel both federal and Imo State governments comply with its six-point core demands after the brutalisation of the national president of NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Imo State last week.
Both labour centres, the NLC and TUC, said the event of yesterday marked the first stage of the series of activities that will happen in the coming weeks until their demands are met.
The assistant general-secretary of NLC, Chris Onyeka, who spoke with journalists in Abuja after the protest, said the shutdown was in solidarity with Imo State workers.
He said, "We blocked activities to make sure that no flight takes off so as to eventually force the government to do something about what happened on November 1 in Imo State, and the serial violation of the rights of workers.
"So, we call it 'Operation Liberty for Imo State workers.' As far as we are concerned, once you are able to hold the two places, flights from Owerri to Abuja and Lagos, you have isolated Owerri airport, so no flight will go in until they listen to us."
Also, TUC national president, Comrade Festus Osifo, insisted that organised labour will sustain the action except the Nigerian government does the needful and arrest those people who perpetrated the act on the NLC president and Nigerian workers.
Osifo said, "Somebody asked me why we are at the Abuja airport, is it a national issue? That the issue is in Imo state, and we said no, the person that was brutalised is a national figure.
"Our president is a national figure and the Police that brutalised him is a national institution, they are not Imo state Police. The police that brutalised him report to the Inspector General of Police, who in turn reports to the president of Nigeria.
"So, since this is a national issue, we must make it one. Governor Hope Uzodinma cannot unleash thugs with the Nigerian Police in Imo state on someone who has been peacefully fighting for the interest of the Nigerian workers.
"For us, we say no, what is happening is just the first stage of the of the series of activities that will happen, except the Nigerian government does the needful and arrest those people who perpetrated the evil act on the NLC president and Nigerian workers. This is not acceptable and this must not be allowed by the Nigerian workers," Osifo added.
When our correspondent visited the Imo airport, a few workers were seen in clusters discussing the development.
An aviation worker who did not want his name mentioned described the crisis as unfortunate. According to him, millions of naira have been lost as a result of the incident.
Uzodimma Regrets Attack On Ajaero
Meanwhile, Governor Hope Uzodimma has said the state government regretted the attack on Ajaero in Owerri on Wednesday last week.
He, however, expressed concerns over the partisanship of Ajaero in the governorship poll, saying it should be addressed to save the country's democracy.
In a live interview session on Channels Television last night, the governor said, "I was in Abuja when it happened but I placed a call because I didn't even know he was in my state. As a Christian, I believe in God and I can't support violence. Whatever must have happened is regretted by my government, but going forward, he should do things in a more civilised manner."
He said the NLC president had repeatedly said he was a member of Labour Party, adding that Ajaero was pursuing personal interests.
"Joe Ajaero is chasing his personal interest; he has a candidate in the election. He has said he is a Labour Party member. But from 1999 till now, never has NLC shown such level of hostility to any government like in Imo.
"This idea of being a partisan labour leader is not good, a stitch in time saves nine. We must rise up and save our democracy by addressing this", he said referring to the interest of NLC in Labour Party.
According to him, the state chapter of NLC had openly said it had a good working relationship with him.
Uzodimma argued that he stopped those collecting double salaries, ghost workers via automation of the nominal roll and payment system adding that he had implemented the N30,000 minimum wage.
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FG Reads Riot Act To Organised Labour
In its reaction yesterday, the federal government warned organised labour against the disruption of the aviation sector of the economy to achieve what it termed partisan political interests.
The government, which accused labour, especially NLC and TUC, of partisanship, warned them to steer clear of the aviation sector in ventilating their grievances.
The minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festusv Keyamo, handed down the warning in Warri, the commercial hub of Delta state, yesterday.
Keyamo said the labour leaders are unrepentantly partisan, and that virtually all of them are card-carrying members of the opposition Labour Party (LP), adding that the action was unacceptable and intolerable
He warned the leadership of NLC and TUC to exclude the aviation sector in resolving their grievances over alleged molestation of NLC President, Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the Imo state, capital.
The minister, who was livid over the reported shutdown of airports, spoke to newsmen after the opening of a ministerial retreat for the staff of the ministry and members of the Senate and House committees of the National Assembly (NASS) in Warri, yesterday.
The chairman of the House Committee on Aviation Technology, Hon. Thomas Ereyitomi, was among the federal lawmakers present at the forum.
Keyamo said, "As the political head of the Aviation in Nigeria, I will not close my eyes to what's going on right now. The Permanent Secretary and the CEOs are here and have been working round the clock to be in touch with the Airport authorities in Abuja to monitor the activities of the labour leaders, who went there this morning (yesterday) to block the access road to the airport in protest over the alleged treatment of their NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who is also my friend and brother.
"Instead of taking their protest elsewhere in the alleged molestation meted out on the NLC president, they are targeting aviation, which was not involved at all.
"Nothing about aviation but their target is aviation. Their retaliation is aviation. So, I want to beg them to leave us alone. You cannot target aviation in trying to address your grievances," he said.
