Air France leaves Nigerian passengers stranded at Lome after diverting flight

Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, has called Air France out for leaving several passengers at Lome after diverting the flight. Keyamo, in his X handle, had posted a video showing aggrieved passengers demanding justice from Air France.

The minister also went on to disclose that he was alerted of a situation involving mostly Nigerian passengers left stranded at Lome, Togo, by Air France.

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“I am told that the flight from Paris bound for Abuja could not land due to the bad weather in Abuja this evening (Thursday). The flight then diverted to Lome. “However, the confounding situation now is that instead of bringing the passengers back to Abuja after the storm subsided, there are plans to leave them in Lome till tomorrow, even when that same flight will return to Abuja tonight to pick passengers,” the minister has stated.

He noted that after directing the Director of Air Transport management to call the country Manager of Air France, he also called the airline personally, insisting that the passengers must be brought back to Abuja or be treated in line with best international standards if they must sleep in Lome.

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.