By Alltimepost.com
Several passengers of Dana Airline, a commercial air fleet in Nigeria were stranded and embarrassed on Thursday morning when aggrieved workers, including pilots of the company embarked on a strike action as a result of unpaid three – month salaries.
Alltimepost.com gathered that two of their scheduled flights, one going to Abuja and the other to Eastern part of Nigeria, from the domestic wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos actually boarded their respective passengers this morning only to disembark them as soon as the strike action began.
Passengers were seen looking miserable as many of them were furious about the incident. One of the passengers who asked not to be named called it a fraud on the part of the company and called on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to probe the incident. “If you cannot pay your workers when you collect money from passengers, you should not be in the business,” he advised.
Several workers of the company were shocked that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) which regulates the operations of the airline industry in Nigeria allegedly failed to cite Dana Airline in their periodic audit for failure to pay its workers for three months.
Apart from operational regulation, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is empowered to also carry out periodic economic audit.
If this was done, as demanded by the Nigerian Aviation Regulations, asked one of the workers who begged for anonymity, why was it not shown that staff were owed salary for three months?
This, according to him is a great cause for safety concern in the industry. “A hungry man, can compromise safety,” he said.
As at press time, Alltimepost.com could not reach the management of the company and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for comments, but another staff told our correspondent that until their demands are met they would not resume work.
