The National Assembly is angry over incessant domestic flight delays and has called for urgent meeting with the airline operators.

The legislators said flight delays paralyse economic activities in the country and that it is fraught with unpredictability and vowed to find lasting solution to the intractable problem.

Speaking during facility inspection of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) installations at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos by the joint Senate and House Committees on Aviation, the Senate Committee Chairman, Senator Smart Adeyemi, representing Kogi West, said more people now travel by air because the roads are not safe. But he noted that sadly, people are delayed at the airport for as much as four to six hours without compensation.

Adeyemi said in a bid to address the issue, NASS would compile the names of the airlines and in order to put them on notice, it would hold a meeting with them and find out what the issues were so that a solution could be proffered.

We are going to invite the airline operators. We are going to tell them our feelings and brainstorm on solutions. There must be compensation for passengers getting stranded. We are not saying they should compromise standards or compromise technical problems. But most times, they hide under the pretense of technical problems or they tell us the weather is not good.

I must however commend NIMET (Nigeria Meteorological Agency). NIMET is doing a good job. You can get to know the situation of the weather across the country through NIMET. So, when airline operators tell us the weather is not good, it is easy to find out from NIMET,

he said.

He also disclosed plans by NASS to visit several airports across the country in the next few weeks to know the situation of facilities at these airports to guide them on budget allocations.

It pays all of us when the airports are good. It is not the terminal that matters but the facilities and the airspace,

he added.

He commended the management of NAMA and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) for their competence and professionalism in providing efficient services in the industry.

From what we have heard today, we are comfortable that there are very competent people managing the airspace and we hope they will continue,

Adeyemi said.

Also speaking during the visit, Chairman House Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nnoli Nnaji, commended the two agencies, hinting that from the visit, it showed clearly that the managers of the industry know what they are doing.

Nnaji said the House of Representatives and NAMA had reached an agreement to move some mobile towers to certain locations in the zones, so they would be nearer to the people and have also agreed to look at high traffic airports that need services and provide these services.

We need to upgrade some airports to Category 2 and 3. After Port Harcourt, we have Owerri as a high traffic area. After Owerri, is Enugu; so, we have to consider Owerri. We are also going to visit other airports for on-the-spot assessment,

he explained.

Also speaking on the frequent flight delays, Nnaji said flight delays are affecting businesses across Nigeria.

We can no longer take this. We also agreed that we would invite all the heads of agencies and the airline operators of Nigeria so we can discuss this issue of flight delays as it affects everyone,

he said.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.