Nigeria recently made history by having an all-female Air Traffic Control (ATC) Crew taking charge of all its control units nationwide including Area, Approach and Terminal Control.
This was part of activities to mark the World Air Traffic Controllers Day celebrated globally on October 20, 2023.
The initiative was the brain child of most of the senior female Controllers with the first female Controller in Nigeria, Mrs. Hauwa Danboyiwho led the pack by taking it up to the management to get the approval.
DGM, Air Traffic Management (ATM), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Mrs. Kate Nnanna-Ibemgbo, was then charged as the Planning Committee Chairman together with her committee members who saw to it that the epoch-making event was a reality.
“We thought of a situation where we could come together and pool our individual strengths to have a collective strength and do what we know would project the core values of ATC in Nigeria, but to also show that in our profession there is actually a very big presence of inclusion. There is diversity, but at the same time there is inclusion. So, there is synergy between the male and the female counterparts,” Nnanna-Ibemgbo said.
The DGM, Technical Evaluation and Manpower Development, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mrs. Ekeada Doris, said: “I am proud to say that when I joined ATC in 1998, we were six in number and now we are almost 50. So, I am very proud that we have enough ladies to occupy all the positions all over the country today.”
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