By Dr. Olufemi Ogunlowo and Dr. Akin Olaniyan
Introduction: The Incident as HR Wake-Up Call
The recent altercation between an Ibom Air crew member and a passenger has become a watershed moment for human resources professionals across Nigeria’s service industries. While the incident itself unfolded in the aviation sector, its implications reveal systemic HR challenges that transcend industry boundaries. At its core, this event demonstrates the critical gap between policy formulation and practical implementation, a challenge that HR leaders must address to protect both employees and organisational interests in high-pressure environments.
When Policy Meets Reality: The De-escalation Deficit
The fundamental issue exposed by this incident lies in the disconnect between written policies and real-world application. Ibom Air, like many Nigerian organisations, would ideally maintain comprehensive policies regarding passenger conduct and staff responses. However, the viral footage of the altercation suggests that if they exist, these policies may not have been effectively translated into actionable protocols or ingrained through adequate training. This implementation gap represents a significant HR failure that extends far beyond the aviation industry. When carefully designed policies exist only on paper without proper operationalisation, they provide false security while leaving frontline staff vulnerable.
Training and Preparedness: From Manuals to Muscle Memory
Training methodology emerges as another critical HR concern highlighted by this incident. International comparators demonstrate the value of immersive practice. Emirates, for example, runs recurrent Safety & Emergency Procedures (SEP) training for its nearly 23,000 cabin crew, supported by its VR-enabled MIRA platform to simulate high-pressure scenarios. Traditional classroom-based training programmes, while useful for knowledge transfer, often prove inadequate for preparing staff to handle high-stress, real-time conflicts. The aviation industry’s standard safety training provides a useful parallel – just as cabin crew undergo regular emergency drills to prepare for unlikely but critical scenarios, so too should staff in customer-facing roles receive immersive conflict resolution practice. HR departments must reconsider their training approaches to prioritise behavioural change over box-ticking compliance. Frequent, realistic simulations that recreate the stress and complexity of actual workplace conflicts can help bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical competence.
The Digital Dilemma: HR’s New Frontier
The digital dimension of this incident introduces new HR responsibilities in our increasingly connected world. . But it also raises data-protection and privacy-governance risks. Under Nigeria’s Data Protection Act 2023, personal data must be processed lawfully and fairly, with journalism and public-interest exemptions available but not absolute. The rapid dissemination of altercation footage across social media platforms demonstrates how quickly workplace incidents can become public crises. This reality demands that HR professionals develop comprehensive digital governance frameworks. Such frameworks must balance multiple priorities: enabling legitimate incident documentation, protecting individual privacy, safeguarding organisational reputation, and maintaining evidential integrity for potential investigations. Clear guidelines are needed regarding when and how staff may record workplace incidents, how such recordings should be stored, and the circumstances under which they may be shared.
The Hidden Cost: Employee Trauma
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of this incident is its psychological impact on the employees involved. While Nigerian labour law adequately addresses physical workplace safety, it remains largely silent on psychological protections. International evidence shows the stakes: a 2021 survey by the Association of Flight Attendants–CWA found that 85% of respondents had dealt with unruly passengers in just six months, and 17% had experienced a physical incident. This legislative gap places greater responsibility on HR professionals to implement robust support systems. Frontline staff who experience or witness violent altercations often suffer lasting emotional effects that can impact their job performance and personal wellbeing. HR must institutionalise post-incident support protocols including immediate debriefing, access to counselling services, and clear reporting channels for workplace safety concerns. Furthermore, psychological safety considerations should be integrated into all aspects of people management, from recruitment and training to performance evaluation and career development.
HR’s Strategic Response
To transform this incident from a crisis into an opportunity for organisational learning, HR leaders must take several concrete actions. First, policies need to be redesigned with real-world applicability in mind. This means moving beyond generic “zero tolerance” statements to develop graduated response protocols that provide clear guidance for different levels of conflict escalation. Such protocols should be simple enough to recall under pressure while comprehensive enough to cover likely scenarios.
Second, training approaches require fundamental reinvention. Rather than focusing on compliance metrics like training completion rates, HR should measure success through observable behavioural changes in the workplace. Scenario-based training should become the norm rather than the exception, with regular refreshers to maintain staff readiness. These training sessions should be treated as organisational priorities rather than compliance exercises, with adequate time and resources allocated for proper implementation.
Third, digital workplace behaviours need proper governance. HR must develop and communicate clear policies regarding incident documentation and information sharing. These policies should be reinforced through training that helps staff understand not just the rules but the reasoning behind them. Managers particularly need guidance on handling digital evidence while respecting privacy rights and maintaining evidentiary chains.
Finally, HR must champion a holistic approach to employee wellbeing that recognises psychological safety as equally important as physical protection. This involves establishing support systems for affected staff, but also proactively creating work environments that minimise conflict risks through proper staffing, reasonable workloads, and clear behavioural expectations for both employees and customers.
Conclusion: HR’s Strategic Moment
The Ibom Air incident ultimately serves as a stress test for HR’s strategic role in modern organisations. In Nigeria’s growing service economy, where customer interactions frequently involve high emotions and potential conflicts, HR cannot afford to be merely a policy custodian. The most successful organisations will be those where HR professionals take active responsibility for translating policies into practice, for ensuring training delivers real competence rather than just certificates, and for protecting employees’ wellbeing as vigorously as their physical safety.
This incident reminds us that at its core, HR is about people – not just policies. When employees face challenging situations, whether at ground level or at 30,000 feet, they need more than written guidelines. They need practical tools, proper training, organisational support, and the confidence that their wellbeing matters. For HR leaders across Nigeria, this moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate the true strategic value of their profession.
Dr. Olufemi Ogunlowo is Publisher of Anchor News Online and CEO of Strategic Outsourcing Limited, a leading Nigerian HR solutions provider.
Dr. Akin Olaniyan serves as Editor-in-Chief of Anchor News Online.
