CPC Calls Ethiopian Airlines to Order

The Consumer Protection Council
(CPC) has kicked against the ill-
treatment meted out to
passengers of Ethiopian Airlines on
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe International
Airport, Abuja, describing it as a
violation of international best
practices.
The council in a letter to the airline,
said its reaction was based on
several complaints received from
passengers of the said flight,
particularly those of the Business
Class, who felt their rights were
wantonly abused.
CPC, while noting in the letter that
Ethiopian Airlines was the oldest
African airlines with record of
international best practices displayed
in other routes, wondered about the
poor service delivery which, it said,
"is notoriously Nigerian specific."
According to the agency, the
passengers were not only shabbily
treated by the airline's ground staff,
they were made to go through
harrowing check-in process, faulty
weighing scale and indiscriminate
boarding.
The council pointed out that the
process of checking in at the
Business Class line was unnecessarily
long and arduous and that "the
complaint of passengers was met
with an unapologetic wave of hand
by the male supervisor on duty,
passing off the fault to system
failure."
It stressed that when the council's
Director General, Mrs Dupe Atoki,
who was one of the passengers on
the queue, approached the airline's
official he became "confrontational,"
adding that the DG's threat to file a
complaint against the airline's
worker did not make him sober up
as he thundered back, saying 'you
can write whatever you please'.
Some of the Business Class
passengers on the queue, who were
distraught with the conduct of the
staff in question, included Mr and
Mrs. Suraj Yakubu, former Executive
Secretary of Nigeria Investment
Promotion Council (NIPC);
Ambassador, Professor Okon Edet
Uya, former Chairman National
Electoral Commission and Member,
African Union Panel of Eminent
Person (APRM); Stephen Danyo of
the World Bank; and Gary Offner
from the USA, the Council stated
further.
He said, "we want to announce to
the whole world with all the noise we
can muster that we are ready and
our doors are now opened to take
Jigawa to the next level."
In his speech the chairman of the
summit Lord Paul Boateng said he
has the conviction that the state can
become a 'Super Eagle' in the
economic world, remarking that,
"Nigeria is Africa's biggest direction
for foreign investment."