NCAA LAUNCHES A CONSUMER PROTECTION PORTAL TO SAFEGUARD THE RIGHTS AND INTERESTS OF AVIATION CONSUMERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY 19-09-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has officially launched a Consumer Protection Portal to safeguard the rights and interests of aviation consumers across the country.
Launching the portal in Lagos, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Mr Festus Keyamo said, the launch marks a significant step towards revolutionizing consumer protection activities in the NCAA, and it is expected to have a positive impact on the aviation industry in Nigeria.
The Consumer Protection portal, a key deliverable of the NCAA’s 2024 project, is designed to provide consumers with quick access to lodging complaints, collation of data on airline flight operations, and real-time monitoring of airlines’ punctuality and on-time performance.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Mr Festus Keyamo said, flight delays and cancellations can be extremely frustrating for passengers. To address these issues, he encouraged travelers to utilize the complaint portal, where their concerns will be promptly addressed.
“This is a very good means that we can ventilate all those grievances at the airports, the whole world is going digital, it is resorting to things like this not to manual complaints to say, you have to go to one counter, go to the officer to come three days, in those days you have to keep coming back to the airport to get relief, you can do it online now and i thank you”.
The Acting Director-General, Civil Aviation, Captain Chris Najomo, said the portal is a significant step in the authority’s commitment to protecting aviation consumers.
He emphasized that the Portal is more than just a digital platform – it’s a symbol of transparency and accountability, designed to foster a fair and trustworthy marketplace where consumers can confidently interact with businesses.
“In today’s evolving marketplace, consumers face many challenges, from being unaware of their rights to dealing with poor services or unfair practices”.
The portal offers a wealth of resources, including guidelines on consumer rights, tools for reporting grievances, and a source for data referencing for research and development and also allows consumers to make informed decisions when booking flights.
Two representatives of aviation agencies, airlines, ground handling companies and travel agencies offer some suggestions to make the portal a huge success.
Highlights of the launch was a demonstration of how the portal works and unveiling of the new uniform of the consumer protection officers totaling 207 to be deployed to the 23 Airports in the country.