The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has revealed that Qatar Airways “meted out poor treatment to a Nigerian passenger by detaining him for 18 hours, compelling him to sign a document written in Arabic, and paying a hefty fine to secure his release.”
According to a statement by the NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs, Michael Achimugu, a Qatar Airways crew member accused the Nigerian of “touching her buttocks while wheeling a passenger” during boarding for a flight from Lagos to the United States via Doha.
The female crew member reported the incident upon landing in Doha, which led to the passenger’s arrest and “18 hours” of detention.
Achimugu noted that the passenger’s wife “suffered mental, physical, and psychological trauma without any form of care.”
He added that authorities “forced the Nigerian passenger to pay a hefty fine and sign a document written in Arabic to regain his freedom.”
Despite this, Qatar Airways “refused to fly him to the US, prompting the Nigerian to buy tickets on another airline.”
Achimugu also said the airline’s country manager, who has a “penchant for evading meetings with the NCAA,” only “sent his subordinates to attend” a meeting about the incident.
Achimugu added that “they failed to comply with all determinations made from that meeting,” and have also shown “total silence upon receipt of a letter of investigation (LOI) sent to them by the NCAA.”
He condemned the actions, stating that Nigeria will not tolerate such behavior from international airlines.
“This is not a situation that we would accept here. It is against the law for ANY airline not to respond to the NCAA. It is against the law to provide false information to the NCAA. It is against the law to fail to comply with the provisions of Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023,” Achimugu said.
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