Occurrences of unruly passengers could erode trust in sector

Orisemeke Benjamin

The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Captain Chris Ona Najomo has raised the alarm that the recent occurrences involving unruly air passengers, if not well handled, could erode trust in the sector.

Najomo noted this at the stakeholders meeting in Abuja during the Emergency National Civil Aviation Security Committee and Stakeholders meeting following the recent occurrences involving passenger’s unruliness and perceived lapses in the aviation system.

He said these have necessitated re-assessing our actions and responses in line with laid down policies, procedures and protocols.

He said as the regulator, the NCAA has seen the urgent need to call the responsible parties together to ensure our respective roles and responsibilities are not only understood as detailed in several documents, but carried out professionally and effectively.

According to him, the engagement is not about pointing fingers or apportioning blame, but rather about listening, discussing and awakening us to our individual and collective responsibilities towards a safe and secure air transport sector.

“The objectives, therefore, will be to

Analyze and fully understand the chain of failures: technological, procedural, human, that permitted these incidents;

“Unify and strengthen inter-agency coordination, especially between NCAA, FAAN, AVSEC, security services, and law enforcement.

“Determine and deploy immediate corrective measures to ensure a safe and secure airport infrastructure and enforce personnel compliance and response.

“Identify “quick wins” and policy gaps, establishing mitigations that can be operationalized immediately-before the next threat emerges and reiterate the need to training, retraining and continuous training on matter relating to aviation security.

“We must summon the courage and professionalism to implement procedures without fear or favour,” he said.