Apprehension in aviation sector as BPE fails to pay ex-SAHCO workers N1.8bn severance packages

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has explained the reason for the non-payment of severance packages for former staff of the Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL).

The BPE on November 18, 2018, reached an agreement with 982 former staff of SAHCOL on payment of N1.8 billion severance packages following their sack by new owners of the firm now known as Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO Plc).

However, the former staff have not received any payment since then and the BPE had cited lapses in the compulsory contribution to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as the cause of the delay.

The compulsory contribution to the TSA was increased from 25 percent revenue contribution stipulated in 2015 to 40 percent this month.

In a memo to the aggrieved staff dated October 11, 2022, BPE explained that letters have been written to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, but no positive response has been received from the ministry.

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The memo read: “In the light of the foregoing, it has become expedient to update you on our modest efforts to bridge the communication gap from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) we signed with you on November 2, 2018, to the setting up of the Negotiating Committee and our Director-General‘s willingness to offer to pay the redundancy as opposed to the stand of the Chairman of SAHCOL. It is evident that if we have the resources, this would have been a forgone issue.

“Also recall that at the inception of this administration in 2015, all funds of government agencies and MDAs were swept into the Treasury Single Account (TSA), thus disabling us financially. Given this scenario, our only option was to write to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning for funds to settle you, which we did via our memo on May 19, 2022.

“We have employed several persons to assist and our last being a visit to one of the Directors with the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on Friday 7, 2022. We are not relenting and any support from your end will be highly appreciated.”

The failure of BPE to pay the severance packages has sparked fear of possible unrest in the aviation industry to as the ex-workers demand the payment of their entitlements.

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