Anxiety is currently gripping air travellers, following a comment credited to the Senate chief whip, Senator Orji Ujor Kalu that some pilots in the country operate under the influence of hard drugs and are not properly monitored by regulatory agencies.
Kalu was reported to have stated this while speaking during Wednesday’s Senate plenary.
He alleged that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, and other agencies have failed to conduct proper checks on pilots, including on-the-spot drug tests and health assessments.
Kalu urged the aviation authorities to take urgent steps to ensure stricter monitoring of pilots, adding that some of them appear careless and unfit to fly.
He said: “On many occasions I have stopped to fly because of inadequacy of pilots preparation, some of the pilots are not prepared. Some of them use Indian hemp.
“Yes, it’s true. Some of them are smoking Indian hemp and some of them are not properly audited by the authorities. I am telling you what I know because the NCAA and other authorities are not looking after this pilot and checking them on drugs, on the spot assessment. They’re not doing it. It is dangerous.
“And you see them walking into the airplane. Nobody check their blood pressure. Nobody checked anything, nothing. Most of these pilots are so careless. I have witnessed it and I have seen it. I don’t think it’s normal.
“Those agencies must come back home to look after this pilot and what do you call them?…because some of them take this India hemp like cigarette. If you go close to them, you will smell it. So NCAA must come back to their duty.”
