The Joint Action Committee representing all major internal unions within the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has officially urged the National Assembly (NASS) to fully commercialise or privatise the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
The aviation labor coalition argues that transforming the country’s airspace manager into an independent, corporate entity is the most viable path to funding critical aviation infrastructure without bankrupting the nation’s primary safety watchdog.
The joint memo was co-signed by the branch secretaries of the sector’s four primary labor bodies: Obasi Ugwumba of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Salami Adeniyi of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Comrade Omaga Joshua of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), and Comrade Celestine N. Chukwu of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).
The call functions as an aggressive counter-proposal to a controversial bill currently before lawmakers. The draft legislation seeks to slice the NCAA’s statutory share of the five percent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) from 56 percent down to 40 percent—representing a severe 16 percent resource deficit—while boosting NAMA’s allocation from 22 percent to 40 percent. The unions contend that siphoning regulatory funds to paper over NAMA’s structural funding issues is a dangerous policy misstep.
