Engr. Akin Olateru, Director-General, Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has called on aviation unions to choose their battles wisely in favour of those that will significantly and positively impact the lives of aviation workers in the country.
Olateru made this call as he received an award in appreciation for his contribution to the aviation sector during the Joint Aviation Trade Unions’ Forum (JATUF) held recently in Ikeja, Lagos.
In his speech, the NSIB boss said, “We give God all the glory. I accept this award on behalf of my team. NSIB is what it is today because I chose to be a disruptor; to change the status quo. Unions, I challenge you to be disruptors. It is good to fight for salary increments; but is it better to do this or to fight for the dollar to come down? There’s more to workers than salary increments. Think deeply. There’s more we can do to better the conditions of workers than merely increasing their salaries.”
“For example, civil servants are not allowed to own businesses while they’re still in active service, but most of them go into businesses when they retire. Have you been taught financial management and strategy to prepare you for retirement?”
He stated that for pensions to fulfill their purpose, they need to be linked to inflation. In his opinion, anything short of linking pensions to inflation rates will not make much of a difference in the lives of pensioners, and can in fact be catastrophic to their well being when they discover that what they receive as pension does not reflect what they had worked for throughout their lives as civil servants.
Other awardees at the ceremony included the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika; the DG of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Musa Nuhu; the MD of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu amongst others, who were also recognized for their various contributions to the sector.
