Arik Air, which in other worlds would have been Nigeria’s flag carrier, has struck again.
The airline, which is notorious for all sorts of delays and cancellations, often without notice, has delayed no less a personality than the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, who has been stranded at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, for a few hours.
Mr Chidoka, in frustration, took to the micro-blogging platform, Twitter to complain about how his appointments in Lagos had been truncated, with no warning, nor an apology as of the time he started tweeting.
Am at Abuja Airport waiting for an Arik flight that was scheduled for 3pm and now changed casually to 5pm.
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
Unlike most Nigerian officials, Mr. Chidoka, to his credit, refused to throw his weight around…
I have refused to call anybody in Arik. Waiting patiently, though my appointment at Lagos is messed up.
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
He pointed out that thing that frustrates us all…
No text. No warning. Announcement made by about 3pm rescheduling a 3pm flight
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
Then preferential treatment…
Arik have just called for international connecting passengers to come for a message
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
Asked all checked in passengers to come for refreshment after 1hr 30mins of delay!
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
Then the usual, err, rescheduling…
Arik has called for boarding 1hr 15mins ahead of 7pm schedule. Have refused to speak with them.
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
Now Sir, let’s see what you are going to do to follow this one up…
Passengers deserve better service. Delays happen but what about texting us?
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
I am dealing with the issue of lack of data for route planning and schedule approval.
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
Ah!
On my side introducing night landing facilities at local airports will assist airlines in route planning
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
We are providing by end May, airfield lighting in 13 Airports.
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
The man has made promises. Bookmark your calendars for the end of May.
Setting and monitoring performance targets for all stakeholders and holding them publicly accountable is key
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
All is well that ends well, and he should be in the air soon.
Boarded on Arik 5N MJK 55 mins ahead of 7pm schedule. I refused to change airlines was ready to wait it out
— Osita Chidoka (@Benossy) March 9, 2015
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An unserious nation, the only nation on planet earth with a position called Minister of Aviation. Is aviation not a form of transportation? Or what is the function of Minister of Transport? A wasteful nation with wasteful leaders is bound to have rude and poor service culture.