We’ll Strictly Enforce Regulations on Passenger Unruly Behaviour- Achimugu, NCAA Spokesman
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) held a meeting with all domestic airlines. The issue of passengers unruly behaviour was discussed extensively.
The Authority’s spokesperson , Michael Achimugu disclosed the measures that are being put in place to correct all anomalies from both passengers and cabin crew to journalists. He strongly asserted that offenders will be sanctioned with immediate effect henceforth. Ismail Aniemu was there.
The NCAA met with Airlines to discuss about the recurrent issue of passengers unruly behaviour.The cabin crew have their faults likewise the passengers.What is the Authority doing to bring about a change of attitude from both parties?
The Consumer Protection Department of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) protects not only the passengers but also airline operators, and this means every stakeholder in the industry. Too often, we’ve had to address the misconception that we are on the side of the passengers. This comes from the airlines and the passengers have also always said we are on the side of the airlines and it’s such a thankless job. The truth is that we operate by the letters of the regulations, and these regulations need to be enforced.
We will protect whoever needs to be protected based on the merits of each case that comes to the CAA. We are not happy about recent events in the industry. Even though it’s not like it’s new, there have been so much negative press about these things. A lot of passengers are not well educated about their responsibilities. There’s too much of obsession with rights and nothing about their responsibilities. We want to make sure that this situation changes.
While we are at it, we are insisting that airlines retrain their cabin and flight crews. We must also protect the rights of these people. In doing the honest work that they are doing, they must also be treated with dignity and courtesy while carrying out their jobs.
Paying for a service doesn’t give you the right to hit people and be unruly. Aviation is not a democracy because in a democracy, you must listen to a cacophony of voices, and then sometimes there’s confusion about what to enforce but because safety is number one, number two, and number three in aviation, the rules are set and everybody must comply with those rules in order to be able to arrive safely at their destinations.
We cannot afford to keep experiencing chaos in the industry at this moment and that’s why we are doing everything we can to tidy up the system. That is why we had the meeting to take a stand with the airlines as we ought to support their businesses but also ensure that they do their duties to the customers who by the way in Nigeria pay high airfares and deserve world-class service.
It’s really interesting that the recent events bring up these conversations. When there is no sanction anywhere, it really amounts to emboldening bad behavior. A lot of people are interested in knowing what has happened to the recent event jokingly referred to it as KWAM 1, KWAM 2. Have we moved on? What exactly has happened? Are there sanctions? We also saw that people were being rewarded with ambassadorial appointment.What has happened?
If there was a moving on, this engagement won’t hold. So, there’s no moving on. We need to be a little bit circumspect with the way we present these issues. Also, sanctions in the way that most people mean it are not meted out just for the sake of it. Again, I must correct the impression as nobody was made an ambassador. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has clarified that.
Community service is not ambassadorship in the way that people think it is. There’s no paid ambassadorial role given to anybody. It’s community service. You have done this thing wrong and you have a duty to come out and make right by the industry. That closes that particular conversation. Of course, we are taking data. We investigated those incidences and it’s been happening before now. Unruly passenger behaviour has been with us.
The Consumer Protection Officers of the NCAA witness it every day. For years, they’ve been getting slapped at the airport by irate passengers, so it’s nothing new really. We have now come to a point where we say let us look inwards as well. It’s not enough to sit down here and be blaming only the passengers or the airlines. Let us take a holistic look at the system and then rejig it in such a way that we can prevent these things from recurring. That’s what we are doing and it’s not just by sanctioning people.
In any case, the flight ban that was placed on the parties involved in this particular issue was enough punishment in this regard. We are now starting afresh and it’s like we have pressed the reset button now. We are saying going forward, we will enforce this regulation strictly, no matter whose ox is gored.
You said something about flight bans. Have they been enforced because some of the passengers are high-brow people who must fly to carry out their businesses . Is there a real flight ban in there?
Those flight bans were rescinded.
You said there’s been signages at the airport now on physical and verbal assaults.What happens if this persists?
What will happen is that people won’t go scot-free. Unfortunately, from the NCAA perspective, we do not have the powers to prosecute but we are going to continue to enforce the regulations that are within our own ambit as strongly and firmly as possible.
It’s important to take the perspective of the airlines as well because what I’m trying to do is also to bring to public knowledge some of the things that these guys suffer. I think the media owes that duty as well. The information for education is not one-sided.
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