The National Union of Air Transport Employees have warned that if the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria refuses to discuss the fate of the Arik Air workers with the union, its new entity, NG Eagle, will not take off.
NG Eagle is a new airline by AMCON which is yet to be launched into Nigeria’s airspace.
The National President, NUATE, Ben Nnabue, said this on Friday at a congress organised in Lagos to chart a way forward for staff of the Arik Air.
AMCON had on February 9, 2027 taken over Arik as a result of the airline’s bad debt to the corporation and other creditors.
According to Nnabue, the union is ready to picket Arik Air for three months if necessary until AMCON sees reasons to address the plight of Arik workers.
He said, “We will declare a strike in Arik, and if they don’t resolve the problems of the workers, a new airline will never come.
“For Arik, we will do it for three months non-stop till the mandate of the workers come to be. They must work with us; they must tell us what they will do with our members.”
The General Secretary of the union, Ocheme Ana, explained that as an aviation trade union, NUATE considered the unveiling of the NG Eagle a positive and welcome development.
He added that the new airline would create job opportunities, provide incentives for deeper business penetration and generally widen the Nigerian aviation horizon.
He, however, expressed misgivings about NG Eagle owing to what he described as AMCON’s evasive tendencies.
