The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, Festus Keyamo, has announced that airlines in Nigeria will commence compensating passengers for delayed or cancelled flights starting January 2024.
The minister made this statement during his appearance before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation to defend the ministry’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year.
Keyamo highlighted that aviation regulators would begin compelling airlines to refund customers’ funds in cases of flight delays or cancellations.
The minister, aiming to enhance transparency in the sector, also revealed plans to publish a weekly list of offending airlines in the media as part of the new compensation scheme.
“I have called the customer’s satisfaction commission regarding the treatment of Nigerians. In fact, I have gone back to the committee, that is how much I am concerned,” stated Minister Keyamo.
He added, “For every delay, there is a report, an actual report by the regulator. What did they do? Did they pay compensation? And if they didn’t pay compensation, we have said that the other way to get compensation if they can return cash is that once the passenger is buying the next ticket, it must be given a rebate. That passenger must be given a 50 percent rebate or 40 percent rebate because there must be a rebate.”
In October 2023, Minister Keyamo had referenced the compensation of travelers as stipulated in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Act.
Discussing the restructuring of Nigeria’s airports during the National Assembly hearing, Keyamo emphasized that the best approach to developing the airports in the country is through concessions to investors.
“Private partnership must come to the fore. It is not even negotiable; we don’t have the funds to do so (manage the airports),” he asserted.
“In concession, we will give the people what we want, not what they want. We have to decide what we want. It is the nature, the quality of the concession that all of us will agree on. We want to go ahead, but I want every one of us to sit down and look for the best hands.”
“We should go to the end of this world to look for the best and the best thing for Nigeria and raise our offer to tier one, not tier two. Tier one investors should come to Nigeria and build our gateway for us,” Minister Keyamo concluded.
