Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, has instructed Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to begin exposing airlines that violate aviation regulations.
Gatekeepers News reports that Mike Achimugu, NCAA’s director of public affairs and consumer protection, disclosed the directive in an X post on Monday.
He said carriers that keep passengers stranded until midnight before cancelling flights must take responsibility as provided by law.
Achimugu said, “The regulations stipulate that passengers stranded between the hours of 2200 and 0400 be given accommodation.”
The NCAA official condemned the practice of airline staff abandoning stranded passengers for NCAA officers to handle.
Achimugu said, “The situation where airline staff intentionally disappear, leaving NCAA Consumer Protection Officers to handle justifiably irate and frustrated passengers will no longer be tolerated.”
“While one understands the challenges that operators face in our peculiar operating environment, whoever willfully ventures into a business and wants to remain in it must do it well.”
“We must not always choose the easy way out. Don’t you want to be called ‘world class’? Don’t you want to compete at the highest level? If not for the sake of the passengers who trust you to safely fly them, what about for your own pride?”
Achimugu stressed that NCAA staff should not be put in danger while trying to enforce passenger rights. He noted that any infractions would attract strict penalties.
He added, “For sanctionable infractions, the authority will apply ‘the fullest measures possible’ and will not abandon the letters of its regulations.”
The NCAA official noted that the federal government has ordered strict compliance with the directive.
He said, “The federal government has instructed that airlines be named and shamed by the NCAA. While we have done our best to advise per solutions to flight disruptions and why not nearly all cases are the fault of the airlines, the NCAA expects that operators must comply with the regulations in the event of a disruption.”
“In compliance with the directives from the federal government and the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, the naming and shaming will commence.”
