Nigeria Records First All Female Air Traffic Controllers Nationwide

Nigeria, has recorded an all female Air Traffic Control (ATC) crew taking charge of all its control units nationwide including Area, Approach and Terminal Control.

The initiative which was part of the activities to mark the World ATC day, was the initiative of the first female Controller in Nigeria, Hauwa Danboyi.

According to a press statement made available to LEADERSHIP, the event was muted with the aim of promoting inclusion and diversity in the ATC profession in Nigeria as well as to celebrate women working in the profession.  

“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,” Danboyi stressed.

Speaking further on the motivation for an all female ATC crew, she said, “As you can see, today it is an all female crew across the nation simultaneously. So that shows that unity in doing things together. So we just thought it wise to come together and do something that would show the trajectory of how things happen in other climes.”

Sharing her thoughts on the milestone achievement, the DGM, Technical Evaluation and Manpower Development, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Ekeada Doris, said, “This day makes me very proud because when I joined ATC in 1998, we were six, 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. It is not just in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, we have Calabar, and we have Enugu. So ladies are in every station. It shows that what a man can do, a woman can also do.

“ATC is a male dominated profession because of all the challenges involved and the stress. ATC is the most stressful job in the world. And as women we have our families, our children, we are mothers; so for us to be able to do what the men are doing alongside all our other responsibilities, it is fantastic. For the upcoming generation, my message to them is that the sky is just the beginning. There is nothing you cannot accomplish. ATC is a proud and great profession,” she added.

A first officer with Air Peace, Atinuke Stanley-Kafu, who spoke on the uniqueness of the milestone, said it is an opportunity for other women who are coming into the aviation industry to be inspired.

She said, “It just means that times are changing and it is very inspiring for me. Even on normal days when one or two ladies are on the radio, it’s very respectful to hear another woman on the other side doing her thing and doing it excellently well. And I think this is an opportunity for other women who are coming into the aviation industry to be inspired as I have been inspired by other women who were there before me.  This is an amazing day for all of us,” she stated.