Nwuba: Flight dispatchers’ neglect puts Nigeria’s aviation at risk

For decades, the aviation spotlight in Nigeria has shone brightly on the flight deck and the cabin. The attention has been on pilots and the cabin crew who manage the passengers.

But at the weekend at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Annex Training Hall in Lagos, a stark, uncomfortable truth was laid bare at the Flight Dispatchers Association of Nigeria (FLIDAN) Annual Conference.

The message was clear: Nigeria’s aviation safety is resting on a fragile, severely overworked, and critically undervalued foundation.

Leading this charge of uncomfortable truths was Dr Alexander Nwuba, President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria (AOPAN) and Second Vice President of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI).

In a paper titled “Improving Work Conditions for Flight Dispatchers: A Comprehensive Approach,” presented on his behalf by industry stalwart Mr Olu Ohunayo, Nwuba did not hold back.

He painted a grim portrait of a profession vital to safety, yet treated as an afterthought by domestic operators.

If flight dispatching is “the first safety decision of every flight,” as Nwuba described it, then the profession’s structural economics in Nigeria are deeply broken.

He disclosed that Nigeria has roughly 1,500 licensed flight dispatchers. Yet, a shocking statistic highlights the massive unemployment and underutilisation of skilled labour in the sector: fewer than 500 are currently employed.

He further stated that because of this supply-and-demand mismatch, those who do find work are subjected to extreme exploitation, adding that, worse still, licensed professionals are watching their careers evaporate; many licenses lapse within five years of issuance simply because these individuals cannot find the on-the-job opportunities required to keep them active.

Perhaps the most jarring revelation from the conference was the financial reality of the ground crew. The average monthly salary of a flight dispatcher in Nigeria currently hovers around N200,000 (approximately $130).

“For context, a flight dispatcher is legally co-responsible with the pilot in command for the safety of a flight. They calculate the fuel (“life in the tanks”), analyse severe weather patterns, and ensure absolute regulatory compliance before a wheel ever leaves the tarmac.”

“Flight dispatching is a demanding task that requires meticulous attention to detail, sound decision-making, and the ability to handle high-pressure situations,” he said.

He reiterated that paying the professionals carrying this massive burden a fraction of what their counterparts earn globally is not just unfair; it is structurally dangerous.

To keep this exploitation quiet, he said airlines allegedly enforce secrecy, urging dispatchers to hide their salaries from one another to prevent collective bargaining.

The consequences of overworking this small, underpaid pool of employed dispatchers, he said, are already turning fatal, stressing that the conference paused to remember a dedicated FLIDAN member who recently collapsed and died directly on the tarmac, a tragedy many attribute to extreme fatigue and poor working conditions.

He stated that while the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCAR 2023), Part 8.10, explicitly caps dispatcher duty time at 10 hours, this regulation is routinely flouted, suggesting that dispatchers, especially those deployed to outstations, are regularly forced to work far beyond these limits.

A critical point of contention raised by both FLIDAN President Daniel Ayuba and Dr Nwuba is the lack of type-ratings on dispatchers’ licenses.

Under current practices, while pilots are strictly limited to operating only two types of aircraft to maintain safety and familiarity, dispatchers are often forced by airlines to dispatch an array of aircraft types not listed on their licenses.

This regulatory loophole compromises safety. FLIDAN is demanding that the NCAA reinstate and stamp type-ratings directly on dispatchers’ licenses to enforce accountability.

Nwuba proposed a comprehensive five-year capacity development roadmap. This roadmap, he said, would demand optimised shift scheduling to combat chronic fatigue, mandatory logbooks for dispatchers (similar to pilots) to document and preserve their on-the-job experience and stricter NCAA oversight on airline salary transparency and duty-time limitations.

Wole Shadare