AM EDITORIAL: When Nigeria’s Aviation Stakeholders Move To Rule Over Unruly Passengers
On September 10, 2025, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in a meeting held with airlines in Abuja over flight cancellations and delays, directed commercial airline pilots not to carry any passenger that exhibits unruly behaviour anymore but to rather, de-board such passengers, saying the objective is to strengthen safety and discipline in the aviation sector.
This directive followed recent series of incidents of passenger unruly behaviour that has surged in Nigeria’s aviation industry despite the ratification of the 2014 Montreal Protocol Against Unruly Passengers in Nigeria and the 2019 ratification of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Montreal Protocol 2014 (MP14), that took effect from January 1, 2020. The Protocol to Amend the Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (MP14) had strengthened the powers of states to prosecute unruly passengers and sought to close existing legal loopholes under the Tokyo Convention 1963, whereby jurisdiction over offenses committed on board international flights rests with the state where the aircraft is registered. ICAO Document 10117 actually provides information on how civil and administrative fines and penalties can be used to supplement criminal prosecutions and guides legal aspects of unruly and disruptive passengers.
Unruly and disruptive passenger incidents on board flights, include physical assault, harassment, smoking or failing to follow crew instructions and significantly affects other air travelers, airline staff and operations negatively. Most times, it compromises flight safety, causes flight delays and disrupts travel experiences and work environment for both passengers and crew.
The necessity of recent NCAA’s directive dwells in the several implications of unruly passenger behaviour, including safety of airlines’ staff. In May 2017, a Station Manager of Air Peace was stripped and beaten to stupor in Abuja by unruly passengers. In May 2018, An Air Peace passenger travelling from Lagos to Abuja went wild during check-in formalities destroying one of the computers of the airline at the departure hall.
According to Daily Trust, the passenger who was on queue during the check-in process at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos complained that the process was too slow and as a result, angrily destroyed the airline’s facility. In August 2018, a Nollywood actor, Jim Iyke was arrested by the Nigerian police, Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos Command, for slapping a security staff of Dana Air, simply identified as Suleiman after he arrived late for the flight out of Lagos to Abuja and was reluctant to be screened by the security personnel of the airline.
In most instances of such incidents, many other passengers onboard the airplane in question, have their entire plans disrupted and their day ruined while the safety of the flight and its passengers and crew are disrupted. In January 2025, a passenger on Ibom Air held a plane hostage over her luggage. The passenger created a scene at the airport in Uyo when she insisted that her luggage must be loaded on the plane even after the airline had notified the passengers that the luggage might not go on the same flight due to weight restrictions. The action of the passenger later led to the cancellation of the flight as the aircraft could not depart Uyo after sunset since it’s a sunset airport. Over 80 passengers on board with this unruly passenger, were stranded while the airline had to arrange accommodation for the passengers, at unanticipated cost to the airline.
In the case involving Air Peace and former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole on June 11, 2025, Oshiomole reportedly locked the terminal gate of the MMA Zulu terminal after he missed his flight, blocked the entrance, thereby preventing other passengers from gaining entrance to the terminal, and accused the airline of overbooking the flight. He denied he had arrived late for the flight as he already checked in online. After the airline went on national television to challenge the Senator to produce evidence that he had checked in online however, little or nothing was heard about that case anymore.
Still fresh in the memory of stakeholders, is the case of King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (KWAM1) who attempted to stop an aircraft from taking off, right on the tarmac.
In a situation where there is an unruly behaviour by an airline passenger onboard an aircraft, taking charge by a pilot-in-command includes an immediate invitation of airport security at the destination airport to arrest and possibly prosecute such safety disruptor after landing, irrespective of the person’s status. Where the unruly behaviour occurs on ground, the station manager and the airport authorities have to collaborate. Where proper investigation eventually reveals that the conduct of the airline staff or the airline itself had triggered the passenger’s unruly behaviour, necessary sanction or punishment must be meted and seen to have been applied. This process however, cannot flow if the airport security agencies, the airlines and the aviation authorities fail to collaborate but either work in silos or respect persons above the laws of the land and the rules of civl aviation.
If NCAA’s September 10 directive is implemented alongside a resolution at the December 2024 stakeholders’ meeting held at NCAA Annex in Lagos, that mobile courts be established to address incidents involving unruly passengers who sometimes beat up airline staff over flight delays or cancellations, it will significantly reduce the trend and deflate the international community’s perception about compromise of standards in handling such aviation safety related cases in this clime.
We admit that in the recent past, there have been several cases where the NCAA lived up to its responsibilities in ensuring compliance with aviation regulations. However, we must make up our minds as a country, whether or not we desire what a former NCAA Director General called “the premier league status” in the international aviation community. The answer of a ‘Yes’ to this question is compliance, compliance and compliance with globally accepted standards and practices. Discrimination in application of sanctions to offenders of aviation rules is a No No!
It is important to prove wrong, those who believe that NCAA’s directive of de-boarding an unruly passenger will not be applied equally, but will depend on the society status or personality of the offender. Stakeholders’ patriotism, collaboration, cooperation, purpose sincerity and safety consciousness are vitals. AM
