Nigeria's aviation sector was spared a crippling strike on Tuesday when unions representing staff at the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) called off a planned nationwide protest. The action, due to kick off on July 1st, was suspended after emergency talks between the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and NiMet management.
The NiMet Joint Action Committee (NJAC) had planned the industrial action to pressure authorities into resolving staff welfare concerns and recovering billions in unpaid revenue shares. At the heart of the dispute is the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), which unions say has failed to hand over NiMet's rightful cut of aviation revenues.
An internal union memo reviewed by BusinessDay revealed that emergency discussions exposed serious flaws in how the aviation sector collects, divides and transfers money between state agencies. The Permanent Secretary of the aviation ministry responded by ordering NAMA to open its books immediately.
This financial review will determine whether NAMA truly lacks the funds to pay what it owes NiMet under the industry's revenue-sharing arrangement. The audit addresses NAMA's repeated claims that cash shortages prevent it from settling the accumulated debt.
Alongside the investigation, the ministry rolled out two interim measures to maintain peace. It created an automated system to split all federally-collected aviation revenues among agencies each month on a transparent basis going forward.
The ministry also established a broad meeting of all aviation stakeholders to craft a fresh legal and operational blueprint. This framework aims to wipe out the backlog of unpaid funds and block future disputes over money between agencies.
Union leaders stressed that pausing the strike doesn't signal surrender, but rather a calculated move to let government review NAMA's financial records. "The leadership of our great union hereby suspended the proposed nationwide peaceful protest," the NJAC statement read.
"This is to allow the Permanent Secretary to ascertain if truly NAMA didn't have anything through their statements of account and to get back to the union," it added. The union indicated it will escalate if the findings confirm NAMA withheld funds.
