Keyamo Explains Why No Foreign Airline Will Be Allow To Serve Imported Meals On Outbound Flights

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, has explained why he gave the directives that no foreign airline would be allowed to bring in their meals frozen from their different countries.

Keyamo made the clarification on his official X handle following an earlier directive that foreign airlines must patronise only local caterers for in-flight meals from January 1, 2025.

Reaffirming that warming and serving of such foods on their outbound flights from Nigeria has also being outlawed, he said that local caterers can also prepare continental dishes for foreign airlines according to their specifications.

In a letter to the Acting Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), dated October 15, 2024 and signed by the director overseeing Office of the Permanent Secretary, H.T. Ejibunu, the minister directed the agency to convey the decision to all foreign airlines.

On Wednesday however, he took to his X handle to clarify his directive, saying, “This is to clarify that directing foreign airlines on out-bound flights to patronise our local caterers is not the same thing as directing them to serve local dishes. Our local caterers can also prepare continental dishes or anyone for that matter according to their own specification. The age-long practice of bringing their meals frozen from their different countries and then warming and serving them on their outbound flights to mostly our own citizens is no longer acceptable.

“We also have quality control agencies to supervise the hygienic nature of those meals, if that is their concern.

On the flip side, if they want us to trust the quality of the food they bring into our country to serve our own citizens, then they also should trust our own process of vetting those meals made by our local caterers. The bottom line is that we must support our local businesses with our huge population and traffic, but other caterers from other climes should not benefit from what should essentially be to the benefit of our local economy.”