Arik Air, one of Nigeria’s major airline companies has ordered 90% of its staff to go on leave until further notice. This is as a result of lockdown that has paralyzed commercial activities in many states in Nigeria, and put aviation transportation to a halt.

The aviation company has also implemented an 80% pay cut for its personnel while the rest of its workforce has been sent on leave without pay.

In March, the federal government announced that all international airports in Nigeria had been shut down to restrict entry of people from countries with high rates of COVID-19. Following the lockdown order that affected the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun States, the aviation ministry restricted local flights as more states implemented a “no flight” rule.

On Tuesday, Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika announced that following the extension of the lockdown, airspace and airports will no longer be open for normal activities.

“As a result of the extension on lockdown by Mr. President it is no longer possible for us to open our airspace and airports for normal operations by the 23rd April, 2020. They will remain closed for a further two weeks. This is subject to review as appropriate,” he said.

This development instigated by the coronavirus pandemic has forced Arik to suspend 90% of its staff. But in an email sent to staff, the Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Captain Roy Ilegbolu promised that the decision will be reviewed monthly.

“After careful deliberation and analyses, management has decided to implement an 80 percent pay cut for all members of staff across the entire organization for the month of April 2020. Furthermore, commencing from May 1st 2020, no less than 90 percent of our staff will proceed on leave without pay until further notice. This position will be reviewed on a monthly basis and communications on further developments will be shared by our HR department as the situation evolves,” he said.

Ilegbolu said Arik has suffered 98% decline in revenue streams in about four weeks following coronavirus’ spurred economic turmoil, leaving the company with no option than to cut the workforce.

“With the current observed trend of events, it is prudent to lean on the assumption that the situation is likely to persist for a while longer. Of huge significance to us is that we have suffered a sharp decline of over 98 percent in our revenue streams since the suspension of our scheduled flights almost four weeks ago.

“Added to this is the rapid decline in the value of the naira by over 35 percent against the benchmark and with oil prices now falling well below $15 per barrel, it is evident that we must, without further delay, take decisive action to preserve our organization,” he said.

He added that the welfare of staff has always been paramount to the organization, but recent events have made these measures unavoidable.

“Our focus as management has always been hinged on the well-being and safety of our staff, managing our liquidity as an organization and creating the opportunity to ride out of inclement circumstances such as the one we are faced with today.

“Pursuant to this, recently, we reached out to our suppliers, specifically negotiating reduced rates on all our contracted services and mitigating operational expenses due to changes in demand. We also implemented contingency plans for staff and introduced operational support flexibility,” he said.

The CEO noted that Arik Air has managed to preserve its limited resources by taking these measures. He added that more steps will be taken in accordance with unfolding events.

“For this reason, to safeguard the survival of our organization, we are constrained to introduce additional measures to curtail our costs, as dictated by the turn of events,” he added.

More companies in the aviation industry are expected to follow the steps of Arik in the coming weeks as there is no special intervention fund by the federal government for the Nigerian aviation industry. The 50 billion Target Credit Facility of the Central Bank of Nigeria, for businesses and households fall short of what is needed to keep airline companies in business and save people’s jobs.

Aviation companies can only access not more than N25 million from the fund, which is insignificant to the exigencies of the aviation industry.

In many countries around the world where there has been substantial intervention from the governments, airline companies are still struggling to keep their staff. It is believed that the lack of sufficient social intervention programs by the Nigerian government is going to result in more layoff of staff in the coming weeks.

The 36-state governors under the aegis of Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) have reached a decision to support a total lockdown of inter-state movement as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. The governors reached the consensus in a meeting held via video conferencing on Wednesday.

This is coming in the eve that Nigeria recorded 873 cases of coronavirus that has resulted in 28 deaths.

Chairman of the NGF, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, said in a statement said the increasing number of cases spreading to states has necessitated the decision of the governors.

Fayemi said that among other decisions made by the governors is to set up regional COVID-19 committees that will be headed by health commissioners.

So far, 13 states in Nigeria have confirmed cases of coronavirus, and the way it is going, more states are going to be affected in no time. The director of the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu has earlier warned that the pandemic will touch every state in the country. He said on Monday that president Buhari will make a very difficult decision next week. That and the recent rate of spread have prompted the governors to converge and decide on the next line of action.

The federal government initiated lockdown about three weeks ago, covering the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun states, with exemption of movement for those handling essential services. Some states have also shut borders and restricted inter-state movements.

The number of new states affected in three weeks suggests that inter-state movement across the country is fueling the spread, though the governors said essential services will be allowed.

The WHO has seriously advocated lockdown as one of the best ways to quell the virus.

With Nigeria poorly prepared to take on the pandemic, her best shot is to stop the spread. While the governors appear to have taken the right step, there is doubt they have what it takes to keep the people at home.

Governor Benedict Ayade of Cross River State had earlier said that further extension of the lockdown will give room for uncontrollable youth restiveness.

“With prices of oil falling, locking out is far better than locking down because another two weeks of lockdown will find this country under siege by young people. There is no way you can hold down these young energies for too long.

“It is demographic, it is statistics. 65% percent of the population is below the age of 35 and the virus itself does not have penetrative force in such demography and that is what we have to recognize as a country,” he said.

Apart from governor Ayade, who has shown consistency in distribution of palliatives in his state, others have woefully fallen short. The Cross River State governor has given an emergency employment to 8,000 youths in the state who he placed on N30,000 monthly salary, as part of efforts to cushion the hardship effects the pandemic will bring on Cross Riverians. Other than that, he has distributed tons of food items to over 140,000 households in the state.

But in his opinion, that is not enough. Other governors apparently are not prepared for what has come, and lack the funding, and infrastructure capacity to confront the exigencies.

In Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s effort to provide relief to the people in state has been something Lagosians don’t want to reckon with. Last week, Sanwo-Olu said the State Government will be serving a square meal per day to 100,000 youths in each Local Development Council (LCDA) in the State. Reports from residents of the LCDAs said the feeding program has been everything short of what the governor promised.

In other states, though they have lower or no cases of COVID-19 yet, their financial capability to remedy the implication of inter-state travel is close to none. The Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has drastically reduced due to plummeted crude oil price. In March, the federal government, states and Local Governments shared N780,926 billion which appears to be the highest amount that will be shared in months from now as Nigeria is currently paying consumers to buy its oil. With the states, apart from Lagos, totally dependent on FAAC, paying workers will be difficult not to talk of providing palliatives for their citizens.

A large number of businesses are going to be severely affected, including those in inter-state transport services. with no little or no hope for revenue generation in the coming months, Nigerians have been advised to prepare for the worst.