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Flight Services face massive disruption in the local and international scenes as from today, Tuesday, following an indefinite strike embarked upon by the staff of the Nigerian Meteorological (NiMet) over Condition of Service (CoS) and other alleged failed agreements.

The strike, which is backed by three industry unions; National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), is threatening to cause flight delays and cancellations among domestic operators, while other aspects of the economy like environment, real estate and agriculture may also be affected.

With the start of the strike, Nimet would be unable to provide Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF), meteorological trend forecast, meteorological and climate information data collected across 56 synoptic stations and meteorological information not disseminated according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommended practises, among others.

So far, it is not clear if any scheduled flight has been affected as a result of the strike, but it may gradually affect smooth flight operations if not quickly nipped in the bud.

The unions in a circular to their members in the agency, said that they had strived strenuously over the past few years to alleviate the exceedingly unjust remunerations conundrum that had visited extremely poverty and consequent untold hardship on Nimet workers, but regretted that these efforts had no substantial result.

The unions also lamented that the agreements between the Nimet management and them since January 29, 2025 towards partial amelioration on the conditions had been breached.

The circular added: “In the light of management’s inability to address our given concerns and being that we can no longer continue to cope with present hardships and especially as the ultimatum given to the management has expired, we have no choice than to resume the suspended strike.

“Accordingly, all staff of Nimet nationwide are hereby directed to withdraw all service from the agency indefinitely with effect from midnight of Tuesday, April 22, 2025 without exception until otherwise directed.

Also, a memo by Nimet management, dated April 17, 2025 to airport managers, with the head: ‘Request for Heighten Security Awareness,’ and signed by Adedeji Sanwo-Olu, Nimet Manager, Lagos Airport, confirmed the planned indefinite strike.

The circular read in part: ‘The NUAC had therefore issued a communication to proceed on an industrial strike commencing from 0000hrs on the 22nd April, 2025 in all Nimet offices nationwide.

“Your support is hereby solicited to ensure discrete/mandatory clearance of all users of the airport especially with the use of their on-duty cards.”

The unions and Nimet management had been at loggerheads in recent months over the implementation of CoS, 2019 minimum wage payment and the continuous staff training, among other demands for the agency’s workers.

According to the unions, the management had failed to implement any of the agreements it reached with the workers on January 28, 2025, adding that the management had also failed to negotiate with the unions on the issues raised.

The unions confirmed that the management had forwarded to the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development for processing, but suspected foul play, alleging that despite persistent requests, the management had refused to release copies of the document due to the unions as signatories to the same document.

But, the management in its response in a letter dated April 11, 2025 and signed by Dr. Nasiru Sani, Director, Human Resource Management & Administration, Nimet on behalf of Prof. Charles Anosike, Director-General, debunked most of the claims of the unions.

The management expressed disappointment at the allegations of the unions that all the elements of the agreement reached on January 28, 2025 remained unattended to.

NiMet said that it had related with the relevant government agencies to address issues raised by the unions, insisting that most of the issues raised were not in its purview.

The management declared that they were issues that needed the interventions of other government agencies, stressing that most of the cases were awaiting responses or approvals.

For instance, on the negotiated condition of service, it informed that this had been forwarded to the ministry for processing and debunked tampering with the document that would also be beneficial to members of its management.