L-r: Managing Director Aeroconsult, Eng. Onadofin, representative of DG-CA Regional Manager NCAA, Barrister Bukola Teriba, Captain A.W.O.Williams, representative of Director Licensing, Training, Augustine Eboigbe, acting General Manager, Dangerous Goods and Captain Sam Mokwenye, flight safety inspector at the Annual Cabin Safety Workshop held in Lagos on Thursday
The acting Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Chris Najomo, has charged members of cabin crew of various airlines to rise above culture and personal attitude and display professionalism in the discharge of their duties.
Represented by Mrs, Bukola Teriba, regional manager ,NCAA at the first-ever Cabin Safety Workshop with theme: ‘Culture, Attitude and Cabin Safety’, held at the Authority ‘s annexe at Lagos airport on Thursday, Najomo said the essence of the training is to ensure that cabin members prioritise safety in all aspects of their duties.
According to him, the sector is a highly regulated one where everybody has a role to play for the ultimate aim of achieving safety.
“This is the first time this is happening, it has never happened before, you know that our main objective in this sector is safety and that is why we are having this training, we want to impact knowledge into the operators and their cabin members according to International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).standards.
“Cabin crew members are not just there to serve coffee and meal, there are laid down trainings that these members have been attending and will still attend, NCAA is all about training and retraining, safety is not just constant but continuous , safety is a continuous impartation of knowledge. We will continue on this, we will continue to ensure that the airspace is safe because the role of the cabin crew is not just to serve meal but to keep checking the cabin to prevent accident, incident. They are to give passengers confidence that they are safe, they are very useful to the flight crew, that is why we pay attention to their training”, he said.
Also speaking, Mrs. Maria Umoh-Odor, head , cabin safety instruction, NCAA, said the authority plans to make it an annual program as part of the training and retraining process as enshrined in ICAO standards.
“As the theme implies, ‘Culture, Attitude and Cabin Safety’, culture is a way of life of the people, what we want to bring out today is that as a cabin safety professional, you should rise above your culture, above your attitude to be professional, we are focussing on professionalism .”
One of the resource person’s, Dr. Paul Ogwuru, from the Presidential Air Fleet Crew, urged operators to be up and doing in Crew Resource Management implementation, adding that all operators must be on the same page with the regulatory authority.
“Employers of labour must be partners in progress with the Authority by vigorously pursuing the demand for adequate training of personnel on maintenance of international safety standards”, he said
Domestic airlines, including Air Peace; Aero;, Azman; Overlahad Airways; Xeje Arik; Bellagio airlines among others were all represented at the workshop.
