May 22, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has waded into the rift between Turkish Airlines and its passengers who were stranded at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
The over 300 Nigerian passengers, THEWILL gathered, were stranded due to the inability of the airline to airlift them to Istanbul.
Addressing the issue, the NCAA warned that it would not hesitate to invoke relevant sections of the Civil Aviation regulations to roll out stiff penalties and sanctions to Turkish Airlines over the alleged maltreatment of Nigerian passengers who have remained stranded at the airport.
The regulatory body disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has directed the NCAA, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other relevant agencies to ensure that the rights of Nigerian passengers are protected anywhere they might be facing challenges.
NCAA spokesman and Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mr. Michael Achimugu, who disclosed this, said the NCAA is currently meditating on the feud between the European carrier and aviation labour unions which picketed the airline’s operations at the Lagos airport on Tuesday.
Achimugu said the Federal Government and its agencies will spare no efforts to call to order any airline that violates the rights of Nigerian passengers.
According to him, the Director General of NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo, had in a virtual meeting on Tuesday from the United Kingdom, initiated reconciliation moves between the Country Manager of Turkish Airlines and the unions but the representative of the airline exhibited some traits of impudence, which the regulator deemed amounted to lack of regard for the system.
Arising from the infraction, Achimugu said the Federal Government will not hesitate to look deep into the impasse with the possibility of extracting the right punishment if the carrier is found culpable.
The Federal Government, he said, will take every step to ensure the rights of Nigerian passengers are not trampled upon by any carrier, including foreign airlines, in taking the right steps to address any infractions on their conditions of operations in the country.
He confirmed that over three hundred passengers have been trapped in the imbroglio involving Turkish Airlines and aviation unions, as the carrier has cancelled flights out of and into Nigeria until Thursday.
Achimugu said though the carrier claimed to have communicated with passengers through electronic mail on the ongoing hitch concerning its operations into and out of the country, some passengers still turned up at the Lagos airport.
He said: “The NCAA is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the inability of Turkish Airlines to operate flights out of Lagos Airport, due to the picketing of its operations by aviation unions. We will ensure that the rights of Nigerian passengers are not violated.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the NCAA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and relevant agencies that the rights of Nigerian passengers are protected.
“Currently, the NCAA is engaging officials of Turkish Airlines, but we have observed some degree of insolence in the Country Manager who engaged our Director-General, Captain Chris Najomo, in a shouting match. He was even banging the table. This behaviour to the NCAA is unacceptable. At the end of our findings, if the airline is found culpable, we will invoke the relevant parts of our regulation Part 17 to meet out the right punishment.”
Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Tuesday, commenced the picketing of Turkish Airlines in Lagos in a bid for the carrier to reinstate staff who were dismissed, forced to abandon duty or forced to resign under duress, including those victimised for their union membership in 2020.
The NLC, in a notice of picketing of Turkish Airlines in Lagos signed by its Acting General Secretary, Chris Ufot, stated that all affiliate unions in aviation are particularly charged to mobilise heavily for the picketing action without fail, adding that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council is to stand by in case there becomes a need to escalate the matter to Abuja airport.
According to the group, Turkish Airlines management had continued its determined bid to exterminate the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) from the airline.
It noted that in this latest onslaught, the management had dismissed seven out of eleven members of the union without benefits under trump-up charges and using a disciplinary committee constituted outside the dictate of the prevailing condition of service as negotiated with NUATE.
Achimugu later visited the stranded passengers at the new terminal of the international airport where he conveyed the message of the DG NCAA to the stranded passengers, affirming that the authorities would not rest until they were airlifted to their various destinations.
The Director said, “I assure you all that the NCAA is on top of your matter. We have met with officials of Turkish Airlines today and we are working towards resolving the issues between the airline and the labour union to ensure that you are airlifted out of this airport. The DG feels your pain, which is why we are here to attend to your plight.”
Narrating his ordeal, a passenger, Fernando Obiekwe Ngozichukwu, who resides in Guttenberg, Sweden, said he is afraid of losing his job as a top official of Scandic Hotel as the company has been calling him to resume following his leave.
He said, “I came to bury my late mother in Imo State but I couldn’t because I was supposed to resume work by now but I am stranded. I had to put my late mother in the mortuary to return to Guttenberg and start work. My company has been calling. For two days now, I slept on the floor and my body aches. We don’t know when we will be leaving here. I appeal to the authorities to intervene and save us from these harrowing experiences.”
A Germany-based construction worker, Charles Ifeanyi, also appealed to the Federal Government to intervene to save the situation, saying the authorities must not allow Nigerians to be maltreated anywhere in the world.
Achimugu, however, assured the angry passengers that the NCAA would explore all avenues to resolve the issues.
About the Author
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
