The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), the umbrella body of pilots and engineers in the country has threatened to down tools over what it described as the alleged unilateral and reckless sacking of pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers by airline operators under the pretence of COVID-19 pandemic. The NAAPE president called on all concerned arms of government and agencies to immediately call Nigeria airline operators to order and ensure they revert salaries to pre COVID-19 levels. The body also demanded that Bristow helicopters and Air Peace recall all sacked pilots and aircraft engineers until all labour issues were resolved, warning that failure to heed this call, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) should ground their operations as safety would no longer be guaranteed. The NAAPE president stated that if the call was not heeded in two weeks, they would be left with no option but to withdraw the services of pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers across all airlines. NIGERIAN TRIBUNEpilots threaten to shutdown operations$3.313bn Chinese Loans: Nigeria Pays $461m, Still Owes $3.12bnDESPITE paying the sum of $461.89million (about 13.4 per cent ) of the $3.313billion debt (Chinese loans) owed the Peoples Republic of China, the outstanding (Chinese loans) against Nigeria is still $3.12billion (about 94 per cent), a document from the Debt Management Office has revealed…pilots threaten to shutdown operations

Source: Nigerian Tribune August 05, 2020 13:41 UTC