Policemen and Nigeria Air Force personnel were on Tuesday drafted to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport ( MMIA ) Access Toll Gate to avert crisis following a tussle for control of the revenue point between aviation union workers and staff of a concessionaire – I CUBE West Africa.
The take over of the toll gate came on the heels of the dislodging of workers of the concessionaire on Monday by aviation unions in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), who asked staff of the Authority’s Commercial Department to take over the revenue point.
The security officers were deployed there Tuesday Morning following the clash between staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN, Aviation unions and the contractor handling the collection of tolls at the access gate.
The deployment has not only ensured sanity to the area, it has also brought a sigh of relief to motorists using the tollgate as they pass freely without paying tolls.
With this development, both FAAN and the concessionaire are losing revenue
Secretary-General, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals ANAP, Comrade Abdulrazak Saidu says the take over of the gate by security officers would not stop their insistence that the contractor be relieved of the contract since the contract had expired.
According to him, “the action we took yesterday the Minister of Aviation and the Management of FAAN are aware because we told them in a meeting we held with them last year that we do not want the contractor again, the money he is paying is too small, we want to review it. “
“The Unions will meet this morning, we cannot allow concessionaires to continue to milk FAAN dry with the token they pay as concession agreement.”
It will be recalled that the unions namely Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals ANAP, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ATSSSAN, had chased out staff of the contractor, handling toll collections Integrated Intelligent Imaging West Africa Limited (ICUBE) for the alleged contract expiration in February 2019.
Manager of the toll collection, Integrated Intelligent Imaging West Africa (ICUBE) Mr. Toluwaleke Abajingin expressed shock over the access gate take over in the early hours of Monday by the workers and their union leaders.
He told newsmen that the case was in court between one Rosepine Intergrated limited, FAAN and ICUBE.
The boss stated that it had paid FAAN up to date and were never informed about any upward review of the contract or otherwise