A protest by Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) employees at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport has disrupted flights, causing significant inconvenience to hundreds of passengers.
The staff members who staged a peaceful protest at the NiMet office on Wednesday demanded implementation of the new minimum wage, payment of outstanding allowances, and improved training programs, among other issues.
The airport came to a standstill in the early hours due to the protest, leaving many passengers with no other choice than to seek alternative travel arrangements, including road trips to their intended destinations.
A source, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity, revealed that the protest has significantly impacted flight operations, resulting in multiple cancellations and delays as the airport authority struggles to manage the situation.
“As you know, flights are determined by weather and NiMet is the one providing weather information to pilots.
“So, even though some flight operations are still going on, the protest has affected many flights,” he said.
It was gathered that many Air travellers were stranded due to the protest as many flights were being delayed.
The Northwest zonal Chairman of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Employees Timoty Meshelia said the protest had disrupted a number of flights at the airport on Wednesday.
“The protesting staff are accusing the management of NiMet of non-implementation of N30,000 and N70,000 minimum wage, nonpayment of staff allowance, ignoring request for inclusion of omitted staff in the past payments, neglecting key training programmes among others.
He further explained that the union has given the Management one month within which to implement the new minimum wage or face industrial action.
