Minister urges airline operators to ‘treat Nigerians well’, serve local dishes

Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, on Tuesday, urged airline operators to treat Nigerian passengers well and serve them local dishes on board their flights.

According to a statement issued Tuesday by Odutayo Oluseyi, the aviation ministry’s Head of Press and Public Affairs, Mr Keyamo made this known while receiving the delegation of Lufthansa Group at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

“Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK) has requested Airline Operators to serve passengers with Nigerian dishes,” the statement noted.

The statement said while the minister commended the Lufthansa Group for their services in the aviation industry over the years, he equally mandated all aircraft leaving or coming to Nigeria to ensure they “treat Nigerians well” on board their flights.

The development comes against the background of complaints by the Special Assistant to President Tinubu in the office of the Vice President, Gimba Kakanda, who narrated a harrowing experience he had flying Lufthansa airline recently.

“On a sultry afternoon on 3 October, I boarded Lufthansa flight LH0401 from JFK Airport in New York to Frankfurt Airport, eager to return to Nigeria and unaware of the nightmare that lay ahead,” Mr Kakanda wrote in a statement titled “A nightmare in Frankfurt: Why I won’t be flying Lufthansa again,” published at the time.

He narrated that after disembarking in Frankfurt for a five-hour layover, he quickly realised he had left his wallet in the cabin.

“The wallet contained all my cash, debit cards, identification cards, sensitive personal and official documents, and other valuable items,” the official noted, adding that “upon discovering this, barely a minute after leaving the plane, I immediately rushed to the Lufthansa staff at the terminal exit to report that I had left my wallet, emphasising the critical nature of the items inside.”

However, despite his explanation and the urgency of the situation, he was denied the opportunity to return to the aircraft to retrieve his belongings or have the wallet retrieved.

Promote Nigeria’s cultural heritage

On Tuesday, Mr Keyamo explained that the essence of requesting local dishes during outbound flights is to promote Nigeria’s cultural heritage, economic development and encourage local caterers.

The minister appealed to foreign airlines to ensure all aircraft coming to Nigeria are in good shape.

He decried how some foreign airlines lift Nigerian Passengers with outdated aircraft while using the most modern ones in other countries.

The minister also seized the opportunity to inform the Lufthansa Group that the Nigeria government has upgraded Muhammadu Buhari Airport in Maiduguri to an International airport and urged them to utilise this opportunity to harness the huge market awaiting all airlines when the airport commences operation on 1 January 2025.

In his remarks, Rene Koinzack, Senior Director Sales, Southern and East Africa, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the aviation minister for the uncommon transformation at the airports.

According to the statement, he said the Nigeria immigration service has been doing excellently well at the airport and promised to ensure all passengers have value for their money.

Mr Rene said the essence of the meeting was to appreciate the minister for ease of doing business in Nigeria and further strengthening the partnership between Nigeria and Lufthansa Group.

He stated that going forward, Lufthansa would serve Nigerian dishes to Nigerian passengers on board Lufthansa and that they would continue to support the growth of Nigeria’s aviation and her economy.