Lagos airport resumes flight operations as labour suspends nationwide strike

Following the organized labour’s decision to suspend their nationwide strike, flight operations have resumed at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammad Airport in Lagos.

Persecondnews recalls that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) announced on Tuesday the suspension of the strike that began on Monday.

The strike led to a complete shutdown of flight operations across the country as aviation unions joined the labour lockout, bringing all air travel to a halt.

Airlines have begun to resume their services after losing a full day by grounding their planes.

On Tuesday, many passengers were waiting at the entrance of the airport until 11:00 a.m. for the labour unions to call off the strike.

Despite the recent disruptions due to the temporary suspension of the strike for five days, flight operations are gradually resuming.

A ValueJet flight to Abuja was preparing to depart at the time of this report, with another flight to Port Harcourt scheduled to follow.

It was further observed that the airport was relatively quiet after the strike was called off, but there are signs that operations are starting to get back to normal.

The General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Ocheme Aba, issued a separate statement announcing the end of the labour strike and directing all union members to return to their respective offices and resume work.

He said: “Due to the agreement with the presidency, the strike will be relaxed for one week starting from now to enable the tripartite committee to conclude deliberations on the minimum wage negotiation.

So, flight operations will resume now, have resumed actually because all the blockages have been removed.”