NAMA-NiMet Revenue Dispute Threatens Airline Operations Nationwide

A simmering financial dispute between two key aviation agencies is poised to disrupt flight operations across Nigeria, as workers of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) have announced a nationwide protest scheduled to begin at 6:00 am on Wednesday. The industrial action, declared by the NiMet Unions Joint Action Committee, stems from the alleged failure of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to remit statutory revenue owed to NiMet, specifically the mandatory 10 percent of en-route and overflight charges.

The unions, representing NiMet staff who provide critical weather briefings to pilots before take-off and landing, said the protest became unavoidable after NAMA repeatedly ignored a direct intervention by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo. According to the notice of action obtained on Sunday, the minister had previously directed NAMA to settle the outstanding remittance within 48 hours, but the agency reportedly failed to comply with that directive.

The protest notice, jointly signed by the secretaries of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals, and the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies, directed all NiMet members to stage a peaceful demonstration at every NiMet office nationwide. The unions accused NAMA of deliberately undermining both staff welfare and the operational capacity of the meteorological agency, stating that the non-remittance had already paralysed aerodrome activities.

The decision to escalate the matter was reached at a Joint Union Congress meeting held on June 15, where members resolved to proceed with nationwide protest if payment was not made within one week. The unions further warned that they had exhausted all patience and that the minister had been duly informed of NAMA’s non-compliance. Although the action is described as peaceful, its potential impact is severe, given NiMet’s indispensable role in flight planning, aircraft dispatch, and take-off and landing operations across the country.

Copies of the protest notice have been forwarded to the Minister and the Director-General of NiMet. Meanwhile, efforts to obtain a response from NAMA proved unsuccessful, as calls and messages to the agency’s publicist, Abdullahi Musa, went unanswered at the time of this report.