Nigerians pay highest airfares in Africa, yet get shabby treatments - NCAA

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has complained that Nigerians pay highest air fares in Africa but yet get shabby treatment from airlines.

The aviation regulator said Nigerians pay humongous amounts to fly, more than any other country in Africa.

Michael Achimugu, the director of public affairs and consumer protection of the NCAA, disclosed this at a meeting with the management team of RwandAir over prolonged/delayed refund allegations levelled against the airline by many Nigerian passengers.

He complained of the airline staff’s unprofessionalism, which, according to him, was evident in the manner of their approach.

Achimugu said, “Nigerians are paying a humongous amount of money for travels compared to all other African countries, so they deserve better. We are not unaware of the discourtesy of some of your staff, but it is funny because it is customer relations.

“The etiquette by which some of your staff members relate is horrible. Even the way your staff was speaking in the video is disjointed and not professional, but we will get to that later because we spent a better part of last year advising airlines on professionalism in their customer relations. Your passenger handling needs to improve. Nigerians can’t be paying the kind of fees they are paying and then get treated this way.

“Our job, God knows, is not to regulate you out of business, but passengers are kings in the industry; if they don’t exist, then you and I won’t exist in this industry. I know that the thinking for many airlines is that passengers don’t have too many choices – even if they complain, they will still come back to fly because they need to fly. But the truth is we have seen many great airlines go extinct; maybe they had thought it was not possible. Never think it is not possible.”

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.