NCAA to Launch Consumer Protection Portal to Address Passenger Complaints
By Tanimu Hassan, Abuja
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has commenced training of its Consumer Protection Officers (CPOs) and airlines’ staff representative on using the soon-to-be-launched consumer protection portal to solve real-time passenger complaints against airlines.
The two-day training event aims to address the challenges passengers encounter with airlines and ensure the on-time performance of all the airlines operating in Nigeria.
The training commenced at the NCAA corporate headquarters in Abuja the nation’s capital and was declared open by the Acting Director General of the Authority, Cptn Chris Najomo.
Najomo who was represented by the Director Public Affairs and Consumer Protection Unit, Mr. Michael Achimugu, said the portal when launched, would address the issue of passengers’ frequent complaints on airlines.
“There has never been a consumer protection portal in the NCAA, it’s first of it’s kind and historic. We are committed to ensuring that all the challenges our customers encounter will soon be address by the time this portal is lunched by end of this year 2024.”
He noted that the portal would make the job easier for the 260 Customer Protection Officers, CPOs across all the airports in Nigeria.
Najomo added that the portal building is a fulfillment of one of his action points for 2024 because it speaks to the ease of doing business environment and the Authority is consciously creating.
“This portal is also for data collation. You will agree that data is a major issue in Nigeria. In the aviation industry, you can not make a proper plan and get things right without data. This portal makes it easier for everyone including stakeholders,” he noted.
“The portal will ensure transparency as we are onboarding all the airlines where people get to see all the number of complaints that have been sent to each airline. He emphasized that the NCAA officers responsible for monitoring the portal and the appropriate airline staff must be properly trained before the portal is launched to ensure proper utilization of the portal.”
The Assistant General Manager, Consumer Protection, Mrs. Ifueko Abdulmalik said the portal is in line with NCAA’s automation of its processes amid reforms.
“The portal is the NCAA desire to automate the processes in civil aviation sector in line with international standards. “In the times past, everything is simplified and we will have better results in consumer complaints resolutions she assured.
“We are onboarding the staff of the airlines so that they are also seeing the complaints in real-time. This makes the processes smoother, and faster and the consumers happier because that’s the ultimate goal” Mrs Abdulmalik added.
“Also on the portal, the customers can log the flights that have been delayed so the NCAA can monitor regulatory compliance.”
