Sade Williams/Business a.m.

A consumer protection portal by the Nigeria Civil Aviation (NCAA) designed to solve real-time passenger complaints against airlines has taken further steps in its preparation for launch.

The soon-to-be-launched portal recently saw the NCAA complete a training schedule for its consumer protection officers (CPOs) and airlines’ staff representatives on how to use the protection portal.

The two-day training held at the NCAA corporate headquarters in Abuja was declared open by Chris Najomo, acting director general, civil aviation, Nigeria.

Represented at the event by Michael Achimugu, director, public affairs and consumer protection, the Najomo said the portal when launched before the year ends will foster faster and seamless resolution of passenger complaints.

The portal will also ensure the on-time performance of all the airlines operating in Nigeria.

“There has never been a consumer protection portal in the NCAA. This is the first. This is historic. When you check the time frame it took us to get to this point, you will see the determination to make it work,” he said.

He added that the building of the portal started when he was the director public affairs and consumer protection, noting that the portal has made the job easier for the 260 CPOs across all the airports in Nigeria.

Najomo said the portal building is a fulfilment of one of his action points for 2024 because it speaks to the ease of doing business environment the Authority is consciously creating.

The portal makes the processes of complaints and complaints resolution easier.

“This portal is also for data collation. You will agree that data is a major issue in Nigeria. In the aviation industry, you can’t make a proper plan and get things right without data. This portal makes things easier for everyone including stakeholders.

“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. You can track the resolution process. We don’t need to name and shame because it is a self-reporting system. You are already naming and shaming yourself if you don’t perform well,” Najomo stressed.

The acting DGCA Nigeria emphasised 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 utilisation of the portal.

Ifueko Abdulmalik, assistant general manager, consumer protection, NCAA, said the portal is in line with NCAA’s automation of its processes amid reforms, adding that it is the DG’s desire to automate the processes at NCAA in line with international standards. “In times past, we did it manually but it wasn’t very efficient; with automation, 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,” she noted.

On monitoring, she said even the minister and the DGCA will be on the portal and they can monitor complaints resolutions all the time.Also on the portal, the airlines can log the flights that have been delayed so the NCAA can monitor regulatory compliance she further stated.