... Nigerian federal Government orders airlift of stranded US-bound passengers
LAGOS — Ghana Airways is to "rescue" hundreds of US-bound passangers stranded in Lagos. The Nigerian federal government has ordered the airlifting of the stranded United States bound passengers of Rite Time/World Airways back to the United States within 24 hours.
The government took the decision following harassment of the Aviation Minister Mallam Isa Yuguda by the passengers at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. Minister of Aviation Mallam Isa Yuguda said yesterday that he has made arrangement with Ghana Airways to airlift some of the passengers. Other measures taken by the Federal Government were; the operators of the World Airways were to keep all stranded passengers in a standard hotel where feeding will be provided along with other incidentals at its airline expense.
NCAA has directed the Airline to make alternative arrangements to secure a plane for the stranded passengers that would airlift them back to the United States. It has also ordered the Airline to stop further sales of ticket until the current problems are resolved. World Airways/Rite Time has also informed NCAA of efforts being made to resolve the problem that would enable World Airways to airlift the passengers. Emotions ran high as the minister tried to calm the frayed nerves of the stranded passengers, who accused him of waiting for too long before responding to their desperate situation.
Some of the passengers were particularly angry that the minister chose to grant audience to representative of Ritetime Aviation and Travel Services, Inc., who they also accused of deceiving them since the problem started about three weeks ago. Efforts by the minister’s security aides to shield the minister drew the irk of some of the passengers, who almost rough-handled him. But as soon as the passengers claimed down, Mallam Yuguda announced the set up of a committee to ensure all the passengers in Lagos were airlifted back to the United States in twenty-four hours, while the case of those stranded in America would be addressed thereafter.
The committee which is to be headed by the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), according to him, is to include representatives of the ministry’s agencies of FAAN, NAMA, the NCAA and Dr. Peter Obafemi, Chairman of Ritetime Aviation and Travel Services, Inc. Mallam Yuguda said it was not possible for government to underwrite the cost of the airlift of the passengers, as it was insolvent. “Our hands are tied because we do not have money,” said Yuguda, who disclosed that the Federal Government had already reported the matter to the U.S. Embassy and the Department of Transportation in America. The minister told the passengers to take the incident as an act of God which was fated to happen, saying “the company (Ritetime Aviation) will not go scot free.”
Yuguda noted the embarrassment the development had caused Nigeria, and spoke of how pained President Olusegun Obasanjo had been as a result. He assured the passengers that the incident would not re-occur in the nation’s aviation business, and appealed for calm. Speaking earlier, some of the passengers expressed regret that the incident was capable of scaring foreign investors from coming to the country. They asked the federal government to put in place a measure to know the track records of businessmen in the country, with a view to ensuring that fraudsters do not masquerade as business people to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
