Nigeria Consumer Parliament

Culledd from the News

In Nigeria, airlines subject passengers to arbitrarily cancelled flights, lean meals and late departures. More irritating, they usually offer no explanation and, in cases of cancellation, no refund. The airlines, in apparent realisation of the long delays and manipulations inherent in the nation’s judicial process, dare passengers to head to court. And, indeed, few do. One of those who did was Engineer Yemisi Shyllon, a notable art collector who, in October 2008, dragged Bellview Airlines to court over a cancelled flight.

A unit, the Consumer Protection, CPU, fashioned out of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to protect the interests of consumers of aviation services, has so far been a failure. The CPU was created in 2001 to deal with all forms of ill-treatment inflicted on Nigerians either by foreign airlines or their domestic counterparts. But it has been a toothless bulldog, as Nigerian passengers are often treated unfairly by both foreign and domestic airlines.

Now, the Authority is talking of deploying CPU officers to the airports across the country. But air travellers seem not to have any confidence in the CPU. Doubts of its effectiveness are hinged on instances when it was simply incapable of dealing with erring airlines which subjected passengers to unsavoury treatment. One such episode played out on 27 March 2008 when 136 Nigerian passengers aboard a British Airways flight heading for Lagos from Heathrow Airport in London were disgraced. British security officers ensured their forceful discharge from the plane as punishment for their protest over the manhandling of a Nigerian deportee in the hands of British security forces. The CPU could do nothing about the issue, until the NCAA stepped in. Although the airline was mandated to apologise to the passengers and compensate them, the compensation requirements were not met.

 Aviation Minister, Mr. Babatunde Omotoba is, however, assuring passengers of government’s support and protection. Last month, Omotoba declared that the Aviation ministry has been mandated by the executive to focus specifically on safety, infrastructure provision and consumer protection. The aviation minister insisted that the British Airways would be sanctioned for various shortcomings. “British Airways had an aircraft problem in Abuja, they repaired the aircraft but it still developed engine problem in Kano. Again, a few days ago, I understand they could not fly because one of their pilots was ill. We are not done with British Airways,” Omotoba threatened. He said the airline has been found wanting in many areas like, allegedly, ill-treatment meted to ticketing agencies and passengers, and poor meals served on their flights. More annoying, the minister fumed, it refuses to engage Nigerians as flight attendants despite the fact that it grosses huge revenue in Nigeria from ticket sales.Delta Airlines, too, may be punished, as Omotoba disclosed. “Delta is also bringing very crumbly aircraft into Nigeria, which is unacceptable to us and we are going to make sure we do something about it, in line with safety as well as consumer protection,” he said. KLM has already been penalised for cancelling a flight, involving 301 passengers, on 6 June 2008. CPU compelled the airline to provide for a two-night hotel accommodation. The airline also compensated each passenger with $300 as they were being checked in finally, with profuse apologies to them on board from the flight captain.

Sam Adurogboye, Media Assistant to the NCAA Director-General, detailed that between January and July 2008, for instance, Nigerians suffered from missing baggage, damaged baggage, cancelled flights, denied check-in and missed connecting flights.  Only 18 passenger complaints were officially reported in the first six months of last year, although there was a flood of other complaints that came in through other unofficial means. Out of the 18, 11 were about missing baggage involving South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, China Southern, Virgin Nigeria and Bellview Airlines, while British Airways and Lufthansa were involved in cases of damaged baggage. Air France, Ethiopian Airlines and Delta Airlines were also involved in cases of delay in delivery of passenger’s baggage.

Exactly the point. Consumer protection in Nigeria is a slogan and a cliche. It seems consumers are on their own. The only way forward is to stand up and fight for themselves, since the government will not do it

The foreign airlines behave anyhow because laws are not yet enforced in Nigeria. All the agencies are asleep. They do things they dare not do in their home country. Even their fares do not make sense. You pay less than 500 dollars for a ten hours return flight from London to New York, but an 11 hour return flight Lagos to Atlanta is in the range of 2,000.  This is a rip off