The federal government has called for more stringent penalties on airlines to curb frequent flight delays and cancellations, which continue to frustrate passengers across Nigeria.

Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, made the appeal during a performance review meeting in Abuja. She urged the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, alongside the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to take tougher actions to ensure passengers are better protected.

This is as the managing director Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Olubunmi Kuku, said that 17 of Nigeria’s airports’ runways have exceeded their lifespans and needed urgent reconstruction.

Highlighting inefficiencies in the sector, Bala-Usman criticised the 224-day timeline currently set for resolving passenger complaints, describing it as both impractical and inconsistent with global best practices. She stressed the urgency of revising the system to prioritise quicker dispute resolution, which would significantly enhance passenger confidence.

In response, minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, acknowledged the concerns raised and praised the Consumer Protection Directorate for its commitment to addressing passenger issues.

Keyamo pledged to improve service delivery by enforcing stricter compliance measures and initiating reforms aimed at transforming the aviation sector.

The government’s renewed focus on protecting passengers and holding airlines accountable comes as a result of growing frustration over service failures in Nigeria’s aviation industry.

Kuku, who made these declarations in an interview on Television Continental (TVC) on Thursday, said to forestall unforeseen situations, improve safety and ultimately, passenger experience, the runways must be urgently rehabilitated.

She, however, clarified that the N580 billion earlier mentioned for the reconstruction of the runway also includes perimeter fencing, in-roads, and apron expansion projects of those airports.

”I believe I’ve also just received messages following our outing yesterday at the National Assembly. So I’d like to clarify two things. We have several runways in Nigeria today. So we have mentioned to you that 22 airports are owned by the federal government. We also support some airports that are owned by the state.

“I did make a specific reference to airports which had runways that had exceeded their lifespan. The average lifespan of a runway is about 20 to 25 years. A lot of our runways in Nigeria have exceeded that time, meaning that we’ve had them for 30 plus 35 years. And what it means is that we need to reconstruct those runways.

“The reconstruction of those runways, the N580 billion that I initially mentioned, is actually for over 17 runways. And it’s not just the runways, It includes the runways,  including some perimeter roads. It includes fencing.

“So, I’ve seen some commentary where people are saying, what do they need all of this money for? I encourage you, please just check Google if you’re in the construction business or in the aviation business to try and understand what it means to build runways, taxiway links, apron expansion and of course, to make sure that we put a safe environment together for everything that happens on the air side.

“Now, the reference that the Minister made while we were at the National Assembly yesterday was specific to the second runway project that is happening in Abuja, that project was initially awarded to some consultants and contractors by previous administrations. I believe that from conversations with the ministry, the scope of that project has changed. There’s also been price variations, of course, which is affected by the scope and, of course, FX fluctuations. There’s some additional information that has come on, which the minister has and which, of course, provides him with a lot of discomfort around the numbers that has been provided to him and to that effect, he has largely come out to say, instead of accepting a figure that has been provided to him, he needs to provide more oversight and more scrutiny.  I believe the question is, what is happening with that, who’s handling that project? The project was initially being handled by the ministry, of course, with support from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, which we have had several engagements with, and we will continue to have that in the next coming weeks, so that there’s some clarity around that project,“ she said.

Kuku disclosed that a lot of facelifts had been given to the airports, especially the international airports in the last one year.

“I think the first thing is to block some immediate gaps, and we did that with minor rehabilitation works at a lot of our airports. I’m sure that if you’ve been a travelling passenger over the last 90 days, you will see that the airports are cleaner, they’re friendlier in terms of the atmosphere, we’ve lit up some of those airports a lot more and it’s more spacious in certain areas. That is just the minimum that we can do in terms of interventions, at least, to make sure that while we focus on the larger infrastructure projects and, of course, rehabilitating some of the facilities.

“If you fly through the domestic airport in Abuja, you would notice that there’s a lot that has been done. If you came into that airport about six months to a year ago, it was dark. It was almost like the Hall of Doom. We’ve lit up that airport tremendously, we’ve opened up the space, the seating arrangements, in terms of the facility, and of course, what we hear everyone complain about, which is the conveniences, easy access or better access for people with disability, making sure that some of the elevators and the escalators are functional, making sure that things like the toilets are also functional, and focusing on a lot of expansion works across that airports.

“The same thing goes if you go into the North, if you go into the South or the Southeast, you will see similar projects and similar progress that is being made,“ she added.

On airports’ viability, the FAAN boss noted that the Authority is focusing on four critical areas to boost the economic status of the gateways.

“So, one is to increase economic activity around the airports. Our commercial and business development team, as well as myself, obviously, with the guidance of the Minister, have worked very closely with some of the state governments in terms of what they can do. One is largely around cargo.

“I think cargo is a sweet spot for us in the market. States like Kano, Plateau, and Ogun state, even though it is not our airports, are looking to drive cargo effectively as well, but it’s not just about building the infrastructure or investing more in the infrastructure on the ground, it’s making sure that there’s a feeder system that starts from the bottom of the value chain to drive cargo,” she stated.

[Leadership]