The minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, described as “highly regrettable” the retrenchment of airline staff and other service providers.
In his May-Day message signed by the spokesperson of the ministry, James Odaudu, the minister said workers in the aviation industry were among the hardest hit economically by the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world.
This is especially with the grounding of passenger flights and shutting down of services globally.
“It is highly regrettable that airlines and other service providers are being forced to cope with the option of either sending their staff on compulsory leaves or reduction of their wages as occasioned by the redundancy caused by COVID-19 scourge.”
He said the federal government was aware of the dire situation in the aviation sector and will do whatever is practically possible to mitigate the consequences of the total lockdown in the industry and create an enabling environment for the sector to bounce back.
Speaking on the Workers days, he assured aviation workers of better days ahead.
He, however, expresses the belief that there’s a bright future for the Nigerian aviation industry after the dark times that it presently faces, hoping that the pandemic will be short-lived.
He also appeals to both private and public workers in the sector to keep hope alive as there are reasons to believe that the industry will come out of the current situation stronger, and in a better situation to improve the welfare of its employees.
