Preparations are ongoing to fly back the over 62 Nigerian passengers presently stranded in Chad.
The stranded passengers who were being flown to the Abuja airport aboard an Air France aircraft ran into problems when the aircraft in question suffered a technical malfunction, which forced it to divert to Chad.
Nigeria’s minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, had earlier, in a tweet (verified X), dropped the hint about the stranded passengers in Chad.
Keyamo had in the same tweet revealed how he had ordered the consumer protection directorate under the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to at once commence discussions with the Air France airline on how to quickly bring them back to Nigeria.
The minister had tweeted: “It has come to my attention that Nigerians on an Air France flight from Paris to Abuja are presently stranded in Chad, from where the flight earlier dropped some passengers.
“I have immediately directed the Consumer Protection Department of the NCAA to swing into action and engage Air France.”
Following the ministerial directives, the NCAA’s directorate concerned has since started discussing with the affected airline to ensure the affected passengers are well taken care of while efforts continue to bring them back to Nigeria.
The minister’s directive has paid off, as the passengers have been put in hotels by the airline.
The passengers are expected to be flown into Nigeria today, Sunday, or at the latest, Monday, as soon as another aircraft from the same airline already deployed from Charles De Gaulle airport arrives today to do the needful.
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