Festus Keyamo

By Mohammed Dahiru Aminu

The frustration and anger I feel towards Air Peace is overwhelming. Their constant disregard for their customers and audacity to offer solutions that, in essence, put more financial burden on those they have already wronged, makes me question why they are allowed to operate at all. The situation becomes even more infuriating when one considers the role of Nigeria’s Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, who seems oblivious to the glaring issues within the country’s aviation sector. It feels as though both Air Peace and the government are working in tandem, not to improve the system, but to continually frustrate passengers, leaving them with little to no recourse for the mess they create.

A perfect example of this was my recent experience with Air Peace. I had a scheduled flight to Asaba, which they cancelled at the last minute without providing a valid reason. Instead of promptly offering a genuine resolution, they sent me an email offering to reroute or reschedule the flight at no additional cost. It sounded fair at first, but upon requesting a new flight, they had the audacity to ask for more money! It’s almost laughable, but this is the reality Nigerian travelers have to deal with daily. I reminded them of their earlier promise, insisting that I shouldn’t be charged extra for rescheduling, as it was their fault in the first place. In response, they reluctantly offered me a flight on Sunday – a full three days later – provided I refused to pay the extra fee. In what world is it acceptable to offer a flight three days after the scheduled date and expect the customer to be satisfied? I had urgent matters to attend to in Asaba, and they wanted me to wait until Sunday!

When I finally decided that I couldn’t wait for their arbitrary flight offers, I requested a refund, only to be told I would need to wait 21 working days to get my money back. Twenty-one working days! The audacity of this airline to take people’s money, fail to provide the service paid for, and then expect them to wait almost a month to receive a refund is mind-boggling. If I didn’t want to wait that long, they gave me the option to “expedite” the refund within 48 hours – at a cost, of course. In my case, I was told to pay 57,600 naira to expedite the refund for both myself and another passenger. It was clear to me that this entire scenario was not just an unfortunate incident, but a well-rehearsed scam designed to squeeze more money from already frustrated passengers.

Air Peace has gained notoriety for such antics. They cancel flights at the last minute, take people’s money, and then offer empty promises of rescheduling or rerouting without any intention of making things right. What’s worse is that even when they claim you can reroute at no additional cost, it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll come up with some excuse to demand more money from you. And if you’re foolish enough to agree to their terms, what’s the guarantee that they won’t cancel the new flight too? Air Peace is, quite frankly, a disgrace. They offer the option to upgrade to business class, but that, too, is a gamble. Why should anyone believe that they won’t cancel a business class flight just like they do with economy class? The sheer disrespect for passengers is alarming.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, when you finally ask for your money back, they will delay the process as much as they can. Twenty-one working days is an absurd amount of time to wait for a refund, especially when they were so quick to take the money. And yet, if you want it faster, they are more than happy to extort you for it. This isn’t just incompetence. This is robbery. Air Peace is nothing more than a predatory company taking advantage of the lax regulatory environment in Nigeria’s aviation sector. They thrive on making the lives of Nigerians more miserable while pocketing our hard-earned money.

I am still waiting to see if they will honor their promise to refund my money in 48 hours after paying the expedited refund fee. But based on the stories I’ve heard from other passengers, I have little hope. Many have told me that Air Peace rarely refunds the full amount they owe, and they always have some excuse ready as to why they can’t pay it all back. I’m beginning to realize that I may be one of their latest victims in a long line of passengers they’ve scammed.

But let’s not forget that the real issue here isn’t just Air Peace. It’s also the Nigerian government’s blatant failure to regulate and monitor the aviation industry. If Air Peace were operating in a properly regulated environment, they would have been shut down a long time ago. Their level of unprofessionalism and blatant disregard for their customers would never be tolerated in any serious country. But in Nigeria, they continue to operate with impunity, because the government is either too incompetent to do anything about it, or worse, they are complicit.

Take our current Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, for example. He was recently captured in a video, arguing that Nigeria cannot allow a foreign airline to operate its national carrier because, in his words, Nigeria is “bigger” and “more ambitious” than Togo. The sheer absurdity of this statement is enough to make anyone’s blood boil. How can you claim that Nigeria is more ambitious than Togo when our aviation sector is in complete shambles? There’s nothing ambitious about having an airline like Air Peace dominate our domestic routes, cancelling flights at will, and treating passengers like garbage. Keyamo’s arrogance and delusions of grandeur are exactly why the Nigerian aviation sector remains so backward. Our leaders refuse to confront the reality of their failures, choosing instead to make foolish comparisons with other African nations in a vain attempt to maintain their egos.

Perhaps if I had been on Air Peace’s London flight, I might have received better treatment. It seems Air Peace and their Aviation Minister patron, Festus Keyamo, are only concerned about flights to more prestigious destinations like London. Domestic passengers? We’re mere afterthoughts. But this is what happens when a country’s leadership is out of touch with the needs of its people. Festus Keyamo and Air Peace are two sides of the same coin, united in their incompetence and arrogance, while ordinary Nigerians suffer in silence. It’s high time we, the people, demand better. Enough is enough.

Mohammed Dahiru Aminu (mohd.aminu@gmail.com) wrote from Abuja, Nigeria.

By Nura Jibo

Nigeria is full of legal arrogance! Festus Keyamo, the self-acclaimed and so-called human rights lawyer, goofed big time!

Two days before the APC handed over its affairs to an incoming president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Keyamo exposed his legal naivety about his party’s (APC) politics and its glaring failure and unconstitutionality.

Keyamo, of all people, never mind collecting his ministerial appointment from the onset. But today, this lawyer shamelessly said that the position that President Buhari has given him is unconstitutional!

This is a lawyer telling Nigerians he presided over illegality for a few years! Somebody is supposed to be a custodian of the law—a so-called legal luminary, for that matter! The drama in all these APC guys’ lives is that they know they failed woefully in leading Nigeria. And given that they must leave the scene in a day or two, it’s time to start trading blame before most of them are called to face the law because most of them presided over the affairs of Nigeria with impunity!

For Festus, please return all the largesse you enjoyed in that office on May 29, 2023, to the incoming government. Only then will we prove your illegality claim, and we will all thumb it up to you for cutting across your legal eye teeth!

Nura Jibo is a Lifetime Member of the West African Research Association (WARA), African Studies Centre, Boston University, United States. He can be reached via jibonura@yahoo.com.

By Prof. Abdussamad Umar Jibia

It is well known that members of the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU), the umbrella body of academic staff in Nigerian public universities, have been on strike for six months. Specifically, the strike began on February 14, 2022. Typical of the union of academics, it ensured that all means of avoiding the strike were exhausted before declaring the industrial action. Other university unions followed suit to avoid being left out in case ASUU emerged triumphant.

The issues are many, and not all of them have to do with money. And in fact, not all the funds mentioned in the dispute between ASUU and Federal Government will go to the pockets of ASUU members. No money goes to the union except the monthly dues it collects from members. It is not the duty of a trade union like ASUU to collect and disburse funds. That is the duty of university administrations.

Let me explain in plain language. But before I do, specific facts are vital.

Although the Federal Government has given licenses for the establishment of many private universities in Nigeria, only about six per cent of Nigerian university students are currently in private universities. More than 90 per cent of university students are in public universities owned by state and federal governments.

Another important note is that there are currently more supporting staff in public universities than operational (academic) staff. Consequently, there are three other unions in public universities apart from ASUU. People usually do not differentiate between ASUU and others, primarily due to Government propaganda. All of these unions are now on strike.

Nigerians may also wish to note that undergraduate students in federal universities do not pay a Kobo as tuition fees as long as they are Nigerians. The very little they pay as registration fees are for services like ID cards, games, hostel, etc.

The issues for which ASUU members are on strike are the same for which the immediate past government of President Jonathan Goodluck commended the union for being patriotic and selfless. One of them is the proliferation of public universities. Does it make sense that the same government that persistently complains of not having enough funds to run its existing universities is continuously establishing new universities in every nook and cranny of the country?

Revitalization of public universities for which an agreement was reached with Jonathan’s government to release N1.3trn in six instalments is what the FG has been using to misinform the public that ASUU is looking for too much money. Thus, any time the FG releases some paltry sum of N30bn, for example, it tells the world that it has given additional funds to ASUU. I think that is why some patriotic Nigerians once agreed to “donate the sum of N18b to ASUU” to call off its strike. This money does not go to ASUU. It is used to carry out projects by contractors appointed by FG or its appointee governing councils.

The only other thing that involves cash is the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement. In case you do not understand this, it is about the condition of service (SALARY AND ALLOWANCES) of academic staff, which the government promised to review every four years. But unfortunately, the promise has not been fulfilled for 13 years.

In 2020 after an ASUU strike, the Federal Government set up a committee to renegotiate with ASUU and other unions. The committee finished its work and submitted its report in May 2021. Regrettably, the report was dumped and, despite ASUU’s constant reminders and follow-ups, was only dusted when ASUU began its strike in March this year. That is when this government realized that it could not pay what was recommended by the committee. The same government set up another committee on the report it is unwilling to disclose.

As a student or parent, you are aware of all of the above if you have been following the engagement of ASUU with the Federal Government. I am only reminding you if you have forgotten.

I am particularly shocked to hear the Minister of State Labour, Festus Keyamo, calling on parents to appeal to ASUU to end the strike. The reason is that they cannot afford N1.2tr ASUU is asking for. When did ASUU ask for this amount? Is it the revitalization fund Keyamo is talking about which ASUU never requested the FG to pay in bulk? If that is the case, why does it have to take FG six months of ASUU strike to state it? Or is it the result of renegotiation for which the FG never called ASUU and said what it could pay? It just doesn’t make any sense.

What about other issues like the UTAS for which the FG has been meeting with ASUU and claiming to have conducted tests with xy results? Is Keyamo also appealing to parents to beg ASUU on it?

And who are these parents? Please let all the government officials involved in this ASUU/FG negotiation mention the number of children they have in public universities and the programmes they are following. Of course, I know the children of Mr President study in the UK. I wrote to advise him against it when his family celebrated the graduation of one of his daughters in December 2019. Whether or not the advice of nonentities like me matters is a different issue. It is the ordinary us that cast the votes to elect him anyway.

Finally, let me remind Mr President that he has only less than a year to leave office. Unfortunately, nearly all his diehard supporters I know have been disappointed. This is mainly due to the people he entrusts with fundamental issues like Security and Education.

On the particular issue of ASUU and sister unions, Mr President seems to be overconfident in the Labour Minister, a southeast politician who was expecting you to anoint him to take over from you next year. When you refused to do it, one of them, who is also in your cabinet, stood before you in the last convention and accused you and your party of injustice. With that, can you rule out sabotage?

Mr President, please use the little time left to correct your mistakes and avoid making another regrettable blunder. Nigerians did not elect Ngige, Keyamo, Zainab or any of those. If not for you, these names would have long disappeared into obscurity. Please remember that most APC politicians who won the 2015 and 2019 elections, especially in the North, won because of you. So, the expectation is high, and the performance is dismal.

I hope Mr President reads this.

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia wrote from Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via aujibia@gmail.com.