It was a relief when the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) met with airlines that operate in the country on Wednesday in Abuja and directed them to stop carrying any passenger that exhibits unruly behaviour.
The regulatory authority said the directive would strengthen safety and discipline in the aviation sector.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, who announced the directive, said pilots would only be allowed to fly after the issues are resolved amicably or the unruly passengers are removed by security from the aircraft.
According to him, “Pilots must not fly plane until unruly passengers are removed from the aircraft by security or the issue resolved amicably. This will go a long way to protect cabin crew and make passengers treat them with courtesy.”
Achimugu added that cases in the past were overblown because the pilots in command did not take charge of the situation.
“Going forward, no passenger has right to touch any cabin crew. Cabin crew should not be rude and passengers should not misconstrue firmness of cabin crew as rudeness,” he further said.
NCAA directed airlines to disembark unruly passengers before take-off, but if the incident happened when the aircraft is airborne, the pilot in command will call security who would be waiting for the aircraft to park and when the aircraft is parked the Aviation Security will be the first to enter the aircraft and pick up the unruly passenger before the disembarkation of other passengers.
The NCAA’s directive could be a cheering news, but it would eventually come down to the personality involved because many say that in Nigeria, the law is not applied equally to everyone. But the directive will serve as a relief because it was learnt that many in the industry were disappointed that after the three major cases of unruly behaviour, which started in June this year, no decisive decision was taken on how to deter passengers from exhibiting unruly behaviour at the airports.
It is said that aviation is one of the most regulated industry in the world, where airline operations are controlled by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) annexes, as domesticated by individual countries. It has become obvious that with strict regulation, as enunciated by ICAO and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, it is easier to manage the airlines than it is to manage the passengers by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
In the last four months, there were three major incidents in Nigeria’s aviation industry involving unruly passenger behaviour, which industry observers alleged were mishandled by the regulatory authority. One was Senator Adams Oshiomhole’s incident with Air Peace, where the Senator disrupted the airline’s operations. The second was the incident involving Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as Kwam 1, who wanted to stop aircraft from taking off and the third was the incident involving Comfort Emmanson and Ibom Air, where Emmanson slapped cabin crew officials.
It could be said that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development intervened in these incidents to calm tempers and to ensure that there was no further disruption of activities in aviation and the system was not overheated, but NCAA did not come out with any pronouncement aimed at guiding passengers to desist from such behaviour in future. So, there was no lesson learned. In fact, two more incidents also happened, involving Enugu Air.
In one of the incidents, the pilot in command threatened to return the aircraft to the terminal if the passenger involved did not switch off her phone. The second incident involved a male passenger who refused to switch off his phone and who had to be literally yanked off the flight. These two incidents followed Emmanson’s scenario and industry observers said NCAA did do not come out with any deterrent measures against passengers who exhibited any act of misconduct at the airport while travelling and that was why the misbehaviour continued.
NCAA did not make any concrete statement on Senator Oshiomhole incident. Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, Michael Achimugu, commented on his X (twitter) account remarking that airline procedures were based on global aviation regulations and explained that arriving at the airport shortly before departure time was not acceptable, no matter one’s status.
On ValueJet Airline and Kwam 1 incident, The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had petitioned the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Inspector-General of Police to investigate and prosecute renowned Fuji musician Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as KWAM 1, over his conduct at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority had invited Comfort Emmanson and a member of the Ibom Air cabin crew, Juliana Edward, for further investigation into a reported incident aboard an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos on August 10. Nothing more was heard from NCAA about the incident.
Ironically NCAA adroitly pushes for airlines to do the right thing in terms of taking care of the passengers. In December, last year, it embarked on sensitisation campaign, telling travellers what they should expect from airlines and reminding airlines their obligation to passengers. It glibly warned passengers about unruly behaviour in passing but the emphasis is always on what the airlines must do for the passengers.
THISDAY spoke to the Executive Secretary of Airline Operators of Nigeria (ART), Olu Ohunayo, who said that NCAA got it right at last after reaching conclusion on the need to switch off the phone instead of leaving it in airplane mode. But he observed that not taking action after the three major aforementioned incidents of unruly behaviour, blunted the expectation of many industry stakeholders.
“The inability to tackle the irritating behaviour of a distinguished Senator and a famous musician has also bent their hands backwards to know when to draw the line and start acting according to the regulations. Remember that the Senator’s case was sent to the regulator to investigate and that committee never sat. And up till today there has not been any report from that order from the Minister. So, I think the problem is where do they draw the line? And that line must be drawn. If we want to end the current state of entitlement by both passengers and even the crew, that line must be drawn,” he said.
While welcoming the directive given by NCAA to the airlines, he emphasised that the staff involved in addressing the issues on unruly behaviour, from the airline, airport and the Aviation Security (AVSEC) of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) should undergo the training, as directed by the Minister.
“NCAA needs to ensure that the retraining as agreed by the Minister of all line staff involved in tackling unruly behaviour takes place and rules of agreement are specified and reaction and coordination from both the security of AVSEC and the airline are also improved upon,” Ohunayo said, adding that if there is no effective coordination between them, including AVSEC and police, in managing unruly behaviour at the Abuja and Lagos airports, it means that worse would be happening at the other airports in the country.
Former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the CEO of Centurion Security and Safety Consult, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), said NCAA should take full charge of incidents that fall under its regulation, “and in the case of unruly passengers, the regulatory authority should look at its security programme to see where there is deterrent actions that could be taken against unruly passengers and communicate them to the airlines.”
He noted that NCAA does not have to make such directives public; “rather, it could write to the airlines but in any case such rule is not existing, NCAA should evolve one. But with the new directive given to the airlines, NCAA has met the expectation of industry insiders and warned that ICAO and other international regulators could be watching Nigeria and during audit these issues could come up.”
The only challenge, however, is that no one will be sure if this directive of de-boarding a passenger whose behaviour is unruly can be applied, if the person involved is a highly placed person in society or one with connections in the high places. Issues will come back to the reality that in Nigeria, laws do not apply equally to everyone.
