Mr Adebanji Ola, the Communications Manager of the airline, said this in a statement in Lagos on Friday.

He said that specifically, the airline would be operating flights from its second hub in Abuja to Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Benin, Kano and Yola.

According to him, on Friday, Arik Air would operate one flight each from Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja to Port Harcourt, Ilorin and Kano.

“Also on Saturday, the airline will operate one flight each from Abuja to Port Harcourt, Benin and Yola.

“The airline had on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, suspended all flights due to the 24-hour curfew announced by the Lagos State government.

“Flights from Lagos to other parts of the country will, however, resume upon the lifting of the 24-hour curfew by the Lagos state government,” he said.

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It was reported that unions included the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN).

Our correspondent who monitored the situation in Lagos reports that all Arik Air operations were shut down including airlines as passengers expressed reservations.

Mr Innocent Atasie, Chairman, ATSSSAN, Arik Air Branch told NAN that the workers resolved to shut down Arik operations nationwide when all efforts made to resolve the problem failed.

Atasie said that the unions were miffed that there had been no payment of staff salaries since April after placing 90 per cent of the workforce on compulsory leave.

The unions said the strike would continue indefinitely, until their demands were met by the management of Arik Air.

Their demands included- payment of outstanding salaries arrears, signing of Conditions of Service, remittance of Pension, Tax, and statutory deductions to the appropriate authorities and to resolve other anti-labour issues.

Others were payment of salary arrears of seven months, with a commitment to pay salaries as at when due, henceforth.

Atasie said that the unions also wanted the immediate review of all employee remunerations which had remained stagnant since the inception of Arik Air, over ten years ago.

He said that the unions decided to shut down all operations nationwide when all efforts by the unions were aborted.

It was reported that on Sept. 13, the management of Arik Air asked for the intervention of the Minister of Aviation, Mr Hadi Sirika, over the planned industrial action by unions scheduled to commence on Sept 14.

The Chief Executive Officer of Arik, Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, made the appeal in a letter to the minister entitled, “Re-Unions in Arik Air threaten to down tools.

Our correspondent’s visit to local terminals in Lagos, indicated that stranded Arik Air passengers expressed disappointment over the airlines shut down workout informing the passengers.

A passenger, Mr Julius Anifowoshe, told our correspondent that “l was shocked when l came to the airport at about 6.30a.m., to board and found out that the airline workers are on strike without due notification.

“Am forced to buy another ticket from another airline to meet up with my appointment in Abuja.

“Government should sanction Arik Air for not reaching out through text messages or e-mail to customers on the planned strike.

“Am going to seek refund of my money whenever am back to Lagos. Arik Air took customers for granted,” he said.

Another passenger, Mrs Beatrice Ikechukwu expressed disappointment over sudden shut down of the operations without due notice to passengers.

Ikechukwu said, “l have to source for money to buy another ticket for what l did not planned for.

“Arik Air operational system is porous, nobody came to address passengers on what was happening. This is really pathetic and disheartening,” she said.

However, Mr Adebanji Ola, the Communications Manager of Arik Air said that the management has scheduled a meeting with the unions on Sept. 15 to resolve all matters.

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Arik Chief Executive Officer, Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, said this in a statement in Lagos.

Ilegbodu said the management of the airline took the decision after a careful analysis of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“The safety and well-being of our personnel and valued customers are paramount at this critical time.

“We do not want to take chances and this is why we have taken this decision,” he said.

Ilegbodu apologised to customers whose travel plans may have been affected by the suspension of flights and promised to mitigate the effects by ensuring a prompt refund for tickets.

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Three Nigerian airlines have successfully obtained International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit Certification.

They are Arik Air, Aero Contractors and FirstNation. Those on the verge of attaining IOSA certification include Allied Air and Cargo services, Overland Airways and Dana Air. While Air Peace has done its last workshop, the carrier is about to be audited.

The IATA Operational Safety Assessment (IOSA) certificate is issued to airline after a successful assessment and demonstration of compliance to Safety Regulations as specified by the body.

This disclosure was made when IATA team led by the newly appointed Regional Director for Africa, Tanja Grobotek, paid familiarisation visit to the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman, at the Aviation House recently.

In another development, Grobotek vehemently condemned Consumer Protection Council’s (CPC) incursion into aviation regulatory responsibilities of the NCAA with reference to the recent issue of passengers’ complaint with Turkish Airlines.

She disclosed that IATA is taking up the matter with the Minister of State for Aviation for proper delineation of agency roles to avoid a breach of Aviation Protocols in Nigeria saying, “a situation whereby our member airlines that are by International conventions answerable to NCAA are now being questioned by another body in Nigeria is confusing and need to be addressed”.

While commending NCAA for a long-standing collaboration with IATA on operational safety, she expressed optimism in seeing more airlines obtain IOSA certification which will be a boost to the industry.

Speaking further, she hinted that there are round table conferences on the impacts of environment on Aviation under the leadership of ICAO in which Nairobi and Nigeria have been tipped in Africa to host. This is slated for 10th March, 2016.

Other issues discussed include proposed meeting with upcoming operators in order to raise their safety level and also on the need for transition from Aeronautical Information System [AIS] to Aeronautical Information Management [AIM].

IATA Area Manager (South West Africa), Samson Fatokun, who accompanied the visiting Regional Director also stated that there are training programmes lined up for NCAA by IATA this year which he hopes will be approved by the Authority.

The DG, Capt. Muhtar Usman, in his response, thanked the IATA team for their visit. He expressed willingness to partner with IATA on issues of Safety, Security and Training.

The DG said that the regulatory Authority has already transited from AIS to AIM and that staff of the Authority had undergone training on implementation.

According to the DG, ‘’Safety is not by accident but a product of sufficient planning’’, hence, NCAA is ever committed to work with IATA on training which is key to safety and security, while adding that these trainings will be domesticated where necessary for cost effectiveness.

The IATA team included its Aviation Solutions Manager (South West Africa), Ewemade Atake.

With the DG were some top management staff of the Authority which included the Director of Air Transport Regulations, Mr. Ogidi Justus – Wariya, Director of Consumer Protection, Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi, Director of Finance and Accounts, Alhaji Nuhu-Ozigi , Technical Assistant to the DG, Ben Tukur, GM Public Relations, Mr. Sam Adurogboye and others.

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Speaking to Aviation journalists in Lagos on Monday, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Office of ABX World Nigeria, Captain John Okakpu, described the revolutionary project as one that will leapfrog the agricultural sector in the country while boosting the supply chain involving transportation, logistics, aviation, packaging, among others; in a bid to creating jobs for the teaming youths.

Capt. Okakpu said that both Arik Air and SAHCOL are EU certified with ACC3 and RA3 certifications respectively; such an evidence of the acceptability of EU Governments to rely on the due compliance of ABX WORLD and the partners to help ensure that all laws are abided.

According to him, already, ABX WORLD has reached out to the Federal Government to leverage global agro-allied sub-sector while breaking the challenges pose by mono-produce nature the country practices at the moment.

“Assuming one million out of over three million Nigerians living in the United Kingdom make purchases of food items from Nigeria at the cost of $100 weekly even with the current exchange rate, Nigeria cannot make less than $5.2billion from this sub-sector annually.

The ABX World MD/CEO, said that, agriculture is taking back its leading contributor position to the global economy; hence oil & gas sector is seriously in shambles and Nigeria must not be left behind.

Stressing the need for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to jettison penchant interest on the oil & gas sector facing bleak future, Captain Okakpu added, “We know the price of crude oil today. Nigeria is largely a mono-dimension economy focused on crude oil extract, export and import. Our banking sector is no way to be reckoned with the rest of the world. God wants to reposition Nigeria, which is the reason we are faced with the crude oil price downfall.

“People like me would prefer the crude oil sales for $10 (USD) per barrel, because that will wake us up from slumber. Before crude oil Nigeria was, but we lost our focus because of that. For Nigeria to balance her budget at the moment, crude oil has to sell for $128 (USD) per barrel. How do we make up the difference? Is it by producing more? Do we have the capacity to produce more to make up the difference? We have no choice than to go back to the foundation which is agriculture.

To bring about the required turnaround, he said that the firm has engaged top supply chains in Europe, as about 60% of the agro-allied produce shall be exported to the European market; “get farmers through their respective corporative societies for training on how and get certified on the supply chain processes such as the kind of pesticides to use. Through that, they can be guaranteed three year of supply”.

He further stressed on the need for establishing purpose-driven cargo facilities, strategically built around passenger airports to attract and sustain airlines’ interest in the business.

He urged the Federal Government on the auspicious provision of airfreight subsidy in the agricultural sector for rapid growth of Agricultural sector and aid the ailing economy.

According to him, under the platform, over 20 million jobs are set to be created on the provision of $0.50 (N100.00) per kilogram of agricultural produce for airfreight transportation.

“This is an avenue to bringing all participants together to integrate their individual roles in this sector. ABX World strategy is to generate over 50,000 tons of agricultural produce annually for export, while targeting produce such as pumpkin leave, fresh ginger and garlic, white and red sweet potatoes, washed bitter leaf, etc.”

“It is going to be a very painful task and journey that will take a lot of time and hard work, because the attitude of some government officials are discouraging the system from moving forward. But the bottom line is that we are no longer talking about classroom theories. Our goal is to champion agro-allied export in Nigeria. We don’t want to lead, because we are already leading,” he added.

He lamented that whereas Nigeria’s agricultural produce are in high demands at the European markets and world over, however, keeping to quality has been the bane of farmers usually orchestrated by unprofessional middle-men.

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