Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has lambasted the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and domestic airline carriers for how they handle passengers who are impacted by protracted flight delays at Nigerian airports.
Following a confrontation with travellers who were supposed to take a United Nigeria Airlines flight from Lagos to Owerri, the development was revealed in a statement published on Sowore’s official website.
Sowore claims that when their flight was repeatedly delayed, a number of passengers were left stranded at the airport; some were said to have waited for almost 11 hours without obtaining sufficient information or assistance from the airline.
He said that the airline kept delaying the departure time without giving the impacted passengers an explanation.
“I met a number of people yesterday who were aboard a United Nigeria Airlines flight from Lagos to Owerri. After spending the whole day at the airport, they had been left to their fate, according to Sowore.
“The airline repeatedly postponed their departure time without providing clear explanations or adequate care, leaving some stranded for over eleven hours.”
According to Sowore, the episode was a reflection of larger worries about regulatory monitoring and customer service in Nigeria’s aviation industry.
He claims that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and other aviation authorities have not done enough to address what he called persistent instances of domestic airlines mistreating passengers.
“Even though we had a friendly conversation, that does not stop us from reiterating the obvious: Nigeria’s aviation regulators, particularly the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, have failed in their responsibility to rein in the responsible conduct of domestic airlines,” he said.
Additionally, he claimed that some domestic carriers had made flight delays a regular occurrence and that passenger communication was still insufficient.
The fact that many of these airlines really don’t give a damn is even more unsettling. He continued, “Passengers are treated as though their time, comfort, and dignity have no value, delays have become commonplace, and poor communication has become standard practice.”
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