THE Senate has condemned in very strong terms, what it described as outrageous fares being charged by local airline operators for the past few weeks.
Consequently, it resolved to carry out a holistic investigation into the matter and summoned all the operators and other stakeholders for questioning.
Some of those billed to appear before the Senate Committee on Aviation, led by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, APC, Oyo North, are the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo; heads of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, among others.
The committee was, subsequently directed to work towards inviting the stakeholders for discussion in the shortest possible time, before the Senate proceeds on its Christmas and end-of-the-year break in two weeks.
Resolutions of the Senate, yesterday, were sequel to a motion by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, who described the exorbitant hike as unacceptable and called on the Senate to intervene.
In his presentation, Senator Buhari said in the last three months, Nigerians had been complaining about the outrageous air fares being charged by the airlines.
He said: “Based on their complaints, we had an informal interaction with the airline owners and operators demanding explanations.
“But nothing came out of the interaction because it was an informal one. So there is a need for the Senate to intervene by inviting all the stakeholders in the aviation sector with a view to addressing the problem.”
