Get Guardian on GoogleAviation workers’ unions have accused the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) of compromising the investigation into the alleged safety and security breach involving Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on August 11, 2026.
The unions claimed that the NSA was shifting attention from the airline’s purported violation of aviation safety regulations to the demand by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) for the abolition of the 5 per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC).
The unions, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) made the allegation yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos during a joint press briefing with aviation correspondents.
Speaking on behalf of the unions, the General Secretary, ANAP, Ocheme Aba, warned that any attempt to abolish the statutory charges without providing an alternative funding arrangement could undermine the financial capacity of aviation agencies and jeopardise safety oversight, air navigation services and accident investigations.
The unions emphasised that they were particularly concerned by information that the NSA had convened a meeting of the Nigerian Intelligence Community to deliberate on the possible abolition of the TSC and CSC, allegedly following demands by airline operators, rather than investigation the safety breach by the airline.
According to Aba, the development was an attempt to turn a serious national security incident into an avenue for advancing the private interests of airline operators.
The unions recalled that on August 11, 2026, they embarked on an industrial action against Air Peace over alleged refusal by the airline to allow its employees to join trade unions and its failure to remit funds collected from passengers on behalf of aviation agencies.
The unions said: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are greatly perturbed to learn that the office of the National Security Adviser has now turned this grave national security breach by Air Peace into child play by converting the urgent need to remedy the breach into the pursuit of the private interest of airlines.
“Information available to us indicate that the National Security Adviser has called a meeting of the Nigerian Intelligence Community to discuss the abrogation of the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) on the ground that their collection constitutes a threat to national security. We understand that this is the demand by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) as panacea to avert further security breaches at Nigerian airports and in defense of the security breach by Air peace on 11th August, 2026.
“It is indeed curious that the National Security Adviser is able to find a nexus between the TSC and CSC collected from passengers without complain and a violent protest by an airline over lawful picketing carried out against it.
“As a matter of fact, that such a matter could occupy the attention of the highly revered Nigerian Intelligence Community does grave assault on our collective sensibilities and portrays the intelligence as a tool in aid of private interests.”
Also speaking the General Secretary, ATSSSAN, Frances Akinjole, expressed that the intervention of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, led to the suspension of the industrial action against the airline on its first day of picketing and the discontinuation of similar planned actions against other affected airlines.
Akinjole regretted that despite the discontinuation of the picketing, the airline reported them to the Inspector-General of Police and instituted legal proceedings against them at the National Industrial Court, while investigations by the Nigeria Police Force and NCAA were also ongoing.
He insisted that the unions had been cooperating with the relevant institutions in the expectation that the investigations would strengthen aviation safety, national security and industrial relations.
Also speaking, the Deputy General Secretary, ATSSSAN, Olayinka Abioye, said that the TSC and CSC, were statutory charge paid by passengers and collected by airlines on behalf of the Federal government for remittance to the NCAA and distribution among aviation agencies.
He listed other beneficiaries as the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) and Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).
