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5,000 lose jobs as Slok Air winds up
FELIX NWANERI
SLOK Airline,
which was de-registered by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) last
March, has closed its offices in the country.
The winding-up of the airline’s
operations, has resulted to job losses for about 5,000 employees.
A competent source at the airline who
disclosed these to Daily Champion in Lagos weekend, said since SLOK had
been de-registered by the NCAA, the airline had no option than shut its offices
as well as lay-off staff.
SLOK, alongside IRS Airline, had its Air
Operators Certificate (AOC) suspended by the Federal Government on March 12,
this year over alleged breach of safety regulations.
The breach, according to Aviation
Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda, while announcing the suspension, was that SLOK
allegedly engaged in unethical practices contrary to the terms of its operating
licence.
Mallam Yuguda said the airline had two
aircraft listed on its licence, but at the time of the suspension, was operating
four which contravenes the Civil Aviation Air Navigation Regulation (ANRS) parts
9.13(2)(3)(4).
The airline was further accused of
violating the AOC maintenance requirements as contained in ANRS part 9.4.5 as it
did not meet the Certifying Staff Aircraft Maintenance (CSAM) personnel
requirement for the number of aircraft in its fleet.
When Daily Champion visited the
airline’s head office located along Joel Ogunaike Street, Ikeja, the once busy
office looked like a graveyard as virtually all the offices were under lock and
key with only few guards keeping watch over the premises.
A staff, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said out of the 300 staff of the office, only 10 had been retained by
the management to render skeletal services.
"About 290 staff of our head office have
been retrenched, leaving only 10. Since SLOK had been de-registered, we don’t
have anything to do with Nigeria again," the staff.
Disclosing that SLOK aircraft had been
taken to The Gambia which has approved the airline as its national carrier, the
staff, however, decried government’s action which grounded the airline meant to
create employment for teeming Nigerian unemployed graduates.
"Many of us lost our jobs. This is not
fair. A lot of people were laid off to the unemployment market, worsening the
already harsh economic situation in the country," he said.
The source, however, commended the
management for paying them salaries up to six months after the suspension,
saying "the management tried to pay salaries upto six months after the ban
before it started laying off workers.
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