An Aero plane

Funsho Balogun

Aviation Unions, ever poised to defend their members from misfortune occasioned by maltreatment in any guise by employers in the sector, have appealed to the Assets Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON to wade into the current predicament of Aero Contractors airline and rescue it from bankruptcy.

The Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria and the National Union of Air Transport Employees have alleged in a letter to AMCON that the threat of impending bankruptcy is actually being orchestrated by influential elements within Aero’s board, hand in glove with the airline’s management.

The Unions jointly claimed that series of fraudulent schemes and practices, including outright embezzlement, has been the order of the day in the airline’s affairs, through manipulations by the board of Aero, the airline’s management and AMCON’s representative. Consequently, the Unions have demanded for a forensic audit to be carried out with the intervention of the EFCC or the ICPC towards investigating how tax payer’s funds invested in the airline have been embezzled.

In the letter signed by the secretaries of the Union, Rotimi Kehinde of ATSSSAN and Olayinka Abioye of NUATE, workers of Aero Contractors called on AMCON to investigate its representative alongside the board members of the troubled airline, insisting that some middlemen, with the aim of using Aero as a front to siphon tax payer’s money from AMCON, infiltrated and got involved in its takeover process by AMCON.

The Unions claim that this untoward development has raised serious doubts concerning hidden intentions behind AMCON’ decision to invest in Aero towards boosting its fortune. ’’These people who were majorly AMCON senior management staff seconded to the board of Aero with Aero management deviced various means of siphoning money from AMCON in the name of Aero. And those management staff of Aero who refused to cooperate with their plan were either sacked o advised to resign,’’ the Unions stated.