 Welcome back. It's still the breakfast so first major conversation this morning. Aviation workers protesting the sack of their colleagues have shut down the Motala Muhammad Airport Lakers Terminal 2. Other protesting workers, aviation workers rather, of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria shut down the terminal over the sacking of their colleagues by by Courtney Aviation Services Limited a day before the strike. Some domestic airlines issued travel advisories early Tuesday morning to passengers scheduled to fly from the domestic terminal of the Motala Muhammad International Airport also known as M M I A 2 now in Lagos ahead of the strike which they feared would disrupt the flight operations of the day. As many advice as passengers departing Lagos to or from Lagos to check in very early yesterday morning so they will not miss their flights. Statement signed by its management and put up on its official Twitter handle. The airline said it was monitoring the situation. Another airline, Ibum Air, in another statement signed by its management warned that already M M I A 2 had at at the time they were setting the message out being shut down by their labor union. But what's behind all of this? Well the union had last week accused by Courtney Aviation Services Limited operator of the Motala Muhammad International Airport 2 terminal of what it calls a witch hunt following the company's sack of 37 workers. The union alleged that by Courtney rather than implement certain conditions of service both parties that agreed to in 2021 resorted to the sacking of the Association's members in its establishment. So joining us to look at this and analyze these developments we have Urumde Ohayo who is the assistant secretary general aviation safety round table initiative is an aviation analyst in Lagos. Urumde thank you very much for your time and good morning to you. Thank you good morning. All right then uh you know this this issue between by Courtney and of course aviation workers is a company um does it have a right to fire um whoever it wants to fire whenever it wants to fire bearing in mind that by Courtney is a private sector company not a government agency. Well um the company had a right to hire and fire and um and have reasons not to give her and not to tell us why they have fired their staff or and also why they have hired the staff. It's a private organization it's not publicly quoted so uh it's uh it has its own rules of engagement. Again um some of the some of the staff are members of the union. That's really clear and that union is the air transport services you know staff and regional managerial those who embarked on that uh blockade yesterday. So those those staff are being members of the union where the ones that were sucked. Now what was the reason um uh I I I didn't come from what the reasons are but I know there have been these um pushback and uh back and forth between the arts and union and the management over the sack uh over the over the sacking of those 30 members uh not all are union members but some of them the union members are part of the 30th sack. They were first suspended. They were at home for they were to join the suspicion that the letter of an email was sent uh extension in the suspension to sack and um the unions went out yesterday. I think they had been 12 years they could resolve the issue before and by using the last option which is available which is backing on the total strike and um blockade of um of the organization which happened here. We have lost a limited because of technical issue there. It happens from time to time we'll try to contact him as quickly as we can um but uh he always makes it a point mostly that they have a right to hire and uh fire um you know I was listening to some commentary uh on my way to work this morning and someone was saying no. The um the strikes have become too much you know anybody any group union has a uh an issue and they embark on strike and most of these strikes um actually um a national sabotage, economic sabotage. You know um I'm I'm I'm sort of happy that people are being affected now Nigerians are saying hey wait a minute you have okay I think we have his hand back. Um are you there please can you hear me? Very well I can hear you. Fantastic thank you very much. Yes thank you very much. Please continue with the point you were making. Can you hear me? I can hear you. Yes we can hear you loud and clear. Yeah please go on. Yes like I said that the the the the back of from between the unions and the management uh over the stack of those guys those guys were they were the 30 of them some of them are members of the union uh uh this uh association. So that's the action if they were not part of the union maybe that stack wouldn't have come come in place but because some of them were part of the unions the unions have to come out and defend their members but the action of the union right well uh they have right to defend their members but also they don't have a right to to stop other businesses and uh campaign and other businesses within the airport and passengers in particular. The industry is in a dire state now we cannot fend for more or have that that's energy now to take more pains for for passengers and organizations within the industry. So um I mean in all that you're saying is that the union actually acted contrary without following due process and however uh it obstructed all the business activities will there be any sort of you know compensation or you know legal action because this might also just be a lead you know to other unions where we expect people to act irrational. Well you're breaking up but so I'm asking I'm saying that from your analysis you're saying that you know it's it's not uh legal uh the union didn't follow due process as much as they have a right to you know to protest but they don't have a right to obstruct all the businesses. So will there be any recompense or you know compensation because a lot of persons were stranded yesterday. Some people you know missed their flight to important appointments you know business dealings and what have you. Is there going to be any sort of penalty. Oh look me there can you hear us you know so Kofi um you know let's talk about this so so this is what it is some as much as we have you know right to protest grievances whatever it is within a certain sphere but um how do you explain the fact that some people you know were disrupted I mean you talk about activities economic activities or whatever activity a lot of persons were headed to their different destination for several you know reasons I'm sure that people had meetings business meetings you know interviews what have you but you know so will there be any sort of compensation or should there be any kind of uh you know compensation or punishment to this particular action because it's okay you know to act in a certain way but what happens when you know that right now begins to infringe on another person's right because that's what it is how come those who had booked for flight those people who actually booked for their flight had booked for their flight prior to yesterday and so what business you know do they really have why couldn't they you know get to their destination it's it's quite of a limited do we have you know but we will we're still you know hoping that we establish contact back with our guests and you know share his thoughts and uh we know that there's a lot of you know a lot going on in different industries and sector and the aviation industry has not left out of all of this but yes it is protests left too many persons stranded looking at the concerns are there other ways that this would have been handled you know without shorting activities at the airport without disrupting you know activities because it led to you know suspension of flight and people couldn't you know go about their normal business any sort of compensation should there be any sort of you know punishment and how should you know unions actually act is there a procedure that they should follow these are some of the questions we're hoping to get answers for as we proceed but but quickly what do you really think talking about union and what they should do in terms of you know um going about protests and demanding their right messier i was saying you know what i'm i'm happy you're happy what yes i'm happy because um you know Nigerians usually rise to the defense of unions um i mean it's okay it's okay um government is always you've always covered themselves in glory you know the federal government especially they've not always covered themselves in glory but you see sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for you know if you're going to the details of some of these things unions do you shut down schools for a whole number of months all right and then you know even when issues have been negotiations have gone to a particular extent um still you have the part to say we're not going back to school and sometimes when when some people say okay let's look at this matter and see is there even anything that we can we can say okay this striking you know workers they can also take a blame for people say ah you're like they say siding with the government let's enjoy it you know now it's almost like a free for all we're giving license to to to the unions to to do whatever i don't want so um striking workers now if they fire a private company fires people says we don't want you to work for us again they shut down an entire airport it is not done mercy it is not done and there needs to be some a conversation about the responsibility and the proper way to address industrial issues by these unions i'm happy let's enjoy it because this is what we come we promote we celebrate these people all the name of government should do the right thing but there's also responsibility on the part of these unions as well but we celebrate it i'm happy they need to shut it shut down more airports it's what would you be saying i'm not saying people should not protest i'm not saying that you know people may not even go to the extreme to to do certain things to get coming to do the right thing but in some situations you know we can also say okay can you while you're protesting you know do a b c d e all right um this union some of them have pushed it too far let's look at the the the electricity workers in abuja who because of promotion exam shut the entire national grid mercy because of promotion exam shut the entire national grid they even film themselves shutting it we're here by um five four three two we shut where they shut it down the whole nation went people who were on life support people whose livelihood if they sell pure water they have to everything done you know so um do we have Mr oh why you're back on the line yeah okay yeah sorry about it happens he has you're so sorry about that um so you were making a point um which would like you to land or maybe in a sentence or two so we can move to the next question okay yeah like i said earlier um the you don't have a right to go on strike but you don't have a right to impede or dub people's businesses and uh inflict pain on the on Nigeria again uh when you go on strike at this time when the index is in their state you need to measure your actions uh what the same way you have you have stopped airlines from flying yesterday this island all the organisms within that timing that could not work also would suck some stuff that would even more than it takes if we are protecting and that's supposed to be protecting all again so i think there must be some moderation and uh there was they would need to find the middle way of of using that last option without obstructing other people's business if that if that picketting and uh affected only the bsl management you the the upper one would not have been much but you here here here here here's an industry that's already in the dead state we have a high security situation the nearest depleting every day so much please then the you're not brought some things to passengers and some operators seriously that was unfair i think that that's that strike money probably managed they were able to achieve their result but that was it probably managed do you do you send some sort of um witch hunt here because by cut me aviation services limited the management um had an agreement with the with the affected union or workers and they're reneged on it according to what they're saying and that after two weeks after asking them to proceed on leave and gave the affected workers including the union's chairman they are part of those who've been uh who affected the union's chairman uh the union secretary the union's treasurer the union's women leader okay and uh these are of the the by coordinate vision services limited chapter termination letters you think do you suspect there's some uh targeted this is targeted at unionists people who are members of this service union at by Courtney uh by by Courtney aviation services limited yeah i i i think there are some problems with the unions but when you look at the the sac almost every member of the executive of the union where acts to go home and uh you when you when you suck work out you suck work out based on the productivity uh competence and uh other related issues to work but when you take the whole executive of the escrow uh that was there was there was a dispute between the the uh management and the and the union and the you know when the the man was very drastic in taking out all the you know members that that was that wasn't a very um good thing to do in terms of industrial relations and if wanted peace you should have you know measured your measure their arrows and they take take take your bullets one after the other i think that the the misfired there again the uh the management did not come to the public they did not tell us the story on to when the airport had been shut down but this issue has been going on you don't have to come in i'm an issue personally this is going off using the last uh the last straw which is the strike uh as as a weapon for for getting rid of from the mind all the people do not hear anything from the management on to when the police was shut down yesterday and they've not really listen all the time in the evening they were not able to tell their clients and they're passing just using the terminal they had issues they did not make any any form of public communication to to to help the passengers uh you know there was a problem and they didn't need for them to go to your other airport why unless you're trying to communicate with their passengers that was out of the ordinary terminal the movement of that airport destroyed it so i expect them to lead lead that process of complicating that complicating operators and every other business that was affected in that time and yesterday you can't just collect the money from people collecting red in increasing charges and yet we've got to buy services i didn't uh master management that set the responsibility for yesterday's catastrophe so um with all of this now uh we understand that the union have a right to protest but of course not following do you procedure do you think there's going to be a penalty some sort of punishment for you know this particular action impeding on the right of other people it's very difficult for me to use the way it's not following through process or do procedure because uh uh the master management said they had a judgment from the industrial cost stopping the strike you know said they did not see a copy you don't have a right to go on strike but you don't have your right to destroy business of all the uh companies and passengers that have nothing to do with master management that is my position that's my point and that competition must come it must come from the bathroom again for now that while the industry players and the aviation security team of all the airports must device a way to ensure that this does not happen again we cannot so for people who are innocent for office of of the management of one company that that was that was right i was not comfortable with that looking at passengers stranded the sb getting to the terminal i had to and move to the other terminal so money even get information and the terminal had only one one one of the machines working so there was there was bedlam at the other terminal yesterday making this couple of positive and already paid allies lost their money yesterday business lost their money grandparents lost their money the other businesses within the terminal we're not able to operate yesterday even those who did that could not go home because it gets me a lot that wasn't right that was that that was what the problem how would you know there if you take a piece of on those ones not related to the bathroom management the aviation sector alone there is one of the few sectors that has its own ministry you know we don't have a minute we have a minister of transportation but aviation has its own ministry and do you think the aviation minister has has done well in allowing this matter to get to this point where an entire airport this is the most modern i think a local terminal or the busiest local terminal in nigeria is being shocked let me say that having our ministry is not a blessing to us i think we just it's just a way of um it's how because you have to the government in power that determines uh whether you're going to minister by the time this government started we're under the minister of transportation and we didn't want the minister because of the interference we've seen in the past and today we don't have board of directors any of the aviation agencies because they have a very powerful minister that did directly with the presidency and has made those and made all the agencies to put to him play play along on his own on on some card so we are not really happy having a minister of aviation what we wanted was just give us a little bit of what the transportation ministry they don't have an independent independent regulator in the and just to have an authority and let us have a commercial wrong federal airport authority of nigeria and a professional run none other agencies but what do we have we've got a lot of interference from the ministry and from the minister and his team and i think then i don't really have the industry but coming to this strike of yesterday i don't think uh that had anything to do with minister of aviation or between the private company uh barcel and and their unions what what the industry might need to do now is but what has happened yesterday in order to mitigate and prevent social occurrence whereby innocent travelers and uh organizations not involved have been penalized and punished and made go we have uh um lose money and uh i'm not corporate we need to work out with that that uh to say that the all you know future you know the activities do not affect organizations and passengers all right no organizations i mean no later organizations all right all right thank you so much uh all um it's been a pleasure having you and as always anytime you're here with us on the breakfast is always an expert analysis from you as far as the issues in the aviation sector concern we just hope that this matter will be sorted out today um so that people can resume the uh using it was sorted out it was sorted out last night last night okay so this morning is is the um mm2 uh the local terminal there is it yeah or people are using the g at no it's not fully open the airlines have started with we started operating this morning but we just need we cannot help with the currents and we need to work towards that all right all right thank you so much there's a lot of issues in the aviation sector i wish you had time to look into all of them but we thank you so much for your time uh lume de juan i say assistant secretary general aviation safety uh around table initiative is innovation on alice and rations life from lego snitchery uh we'll take a short break and when we return we'll talk fuel subsidy there's a lot going on there and then we'll have an analyst join us to look at the issues uh stay with us