THE Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mike Achimugu, has clarified the agency’s role in two recent passenger incidents, saying the authority only intervenes where necessary and within its mandate.
Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief monitored by News Point Nigeria, Achimugu said in the case involving Fuji musician Wasiu Ayinde, better known as K1 De Ultimate, the airline did not press charges.
“The airline [in the singer’s case]did not activate its right to take the passenger to court. As a result, the NCAA petitioned relevant authorities to prosecute the passenger, issuing an advisory to the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) to have the passenger banned,” Achimugu said.
However, in the Ibom Air case, where a passenger assaulted the airline’s staff member, he explained that the carrier immediately exercised its right to take up the matter in court.
“Maybe because their staff had been assaulted, the airline immediately activated its right to take up the matter, and it went to court, so the NCAA is not involved in the case of the Ibom Air passenger,” he said.
The passenger identified as Emmanson Comfort was charged to court on the same day that the incident happened. She was also remanded.
Achimugu stressed that both cases highlight that the aviation system is being tested and that “there’s enough blame to go around FAAN, AVSEC, cabin crew, passengers.”
The NCAA director noted that, “Unruly behaviour is not acceptable anywhere in the world, no matter the confrontation. The regulations are not sentiment-based; those rules are there for the safety of every passenger”.
According to him, passengers must always obey cabin crew instructions while on board.
In the Ibom Air case, he noted that other passengers on the aircraft were said to have seized the passenger’s phone and turned it off during the confrontation.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria had prior imposed a no-fly list ban on the passenger Comfort Emmanson aboard the Ibom Air flight inbound Lagos from Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The AON, in a statement on Monday by its spokesperson, Obiora Okonkwo, said the ban on Emmanson from flying with any AON member, either domestically or internationally, for life, takes immediate effect.
It also said anyone who exhibited such behaviour, going forward, would suffer a similar consequence. A similar incident occurred where Fuji musician K11 de Ultimate was banned by the NCAA for six months over his unruly behaviour at the Abuja airport last Tuesday.