Dr Adejoke Omowumi Adediran, an academic at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in Nigeria, recently graduated with a doctorate from Unisa. Her research topic was “Exploring the protection of passengers during unruly passenger incidents in air transport in Nigeria: Towards a new regime of consumer protection”.

Adediran is an Aviation Law expert and a faculty member of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) in Abuja, Nigeria. She did her PhD (Aviation Law) degree at Unisa under the supervision of Professor Angelo Dube. She also holds LLM and LLB degrees from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria and is a member of the Nigerian Bar. Her research interests include Aviation Law, International Law and Public Law, and she has published widely in these fields. She teaches and supervises postgraduate students at the Akinola Aguda School of Postgraduate Studies at NIALS.

Balancing consumer protection and aviation security

When asked what the scope of her research entailed, she says: “My research interrogated the intersection between aviation security and consumer protection by examining the protection given to passengers during unruly passenger incidents. The research identified the susceptibility of the unruly passenger framework to abuse and arbitrariness on the part of aircraft commanders and airport authorities. This stems from the discretion granted to them, as well as the lack of consideration for consumer protection in the unruly passenger legal framework. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the existing consumer protection provisions relevant to air transport do not also cover unruly passenger incidents. While the unruly passenger framework is security-oriented, it is nevertheless not intended to be an ‘anti-passenger’ regime devoid of respect of passengers’ rights. Essentially, consumer protection must be seen as complementary to the unruly passenger regime and not conflicting with it. Consumer protection considerations can indeed be made without compromising safety standards. The research advances consumer protection by charting a new course for the discussion of passenger protection during unruly passenger incidents. The research thereby enriches the jurisprudence of unruly passenger incidents. The research also augments the existing literature on unruly passengers by revealing the vulnerabilities of the legal framework to abuse and arbitrariness. The research applied the concept of consumer protection to the unruly passenger phenomenon, which deviates from the current practice in aviation law.  The research thus kickstarts discussions around the complementarity of aviation security and consumer protection”.

Solid educational support from family

Adediran grew up in a family of educationalists, with both her parents being academics. This gave her access to libraries, and she never lacked the requisite books and other academic literature to read. Her father, who was Dean of the Faculty of Law, played a significant role in shaping her academic outlook. She says that this meant increased pressure on her to align with both academic and social expectations. “Being under scrutiny fostered self-discipline and accountability. All these contributed to my diligence and comportment,” she says.

When solicited for advice for current students on the PhD route, she suggested: “Such a person should make efforts to find a supervisor with the requisite expertise and knowledge in the intended area of research. This would give the candidate full confidence in the supervisor and enable the candidate to respond to feedback from the supervisor with a constructive mindset and address the same accordingly. I chose Unisa for my PhD because of my supervisor, Professor Angelo Dube, in whom I had (and still have) full confidence. Inasmuch as I owned my research, I took his corrections, critiques and suggestions very seriously, which positively impacted my research and accelerated my completion of the PhD programme.”

Importance of mentorship

A PhD programme requires innovation and creativity, as one must contribute new knowledge to the existing body of knowledge. While this is not peculiar to a PhD programme since publishing in academic literature also requires contributing to knowledge, a PhD programme nevertheless involves a defence of one’s research.

In this regard, Adediran underlined the importance of resources and mentorship in research: “Through my research, I questioned existing norms and realised new norms which should be adopted. The access I had to vast useful resources and literature, and how it made my research much easier, increased my empathy for researchers, students and academics who lack access to adequate research resources. The importance of mentorship to learning was further reiterated to me, and I now view this as a vital catalyst to the swift attainment of academic development.”

Adediran plans to use her PhD to research new areas in her field, publish research in high-impact journals, and teach and provide mentorship by supervising students in her field. “My plan,” she says, “also involves contributing to public debates in my field and participating in public lectures and seminars to foster the progress of Aviation Law and sustenance of aviation in Africa.”

She concludes as follows: “Besides my continued lecturing and research in the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies where I work, I hope to contribute to the academic development of Aviation Law in terms of teaching and supervision of research in Africa and globally. I am zealous and committed to the continued development of Aviation Law in Africa.”

* By Ngwako Mokgotho, Communication and Marketing Specialist, College of Law, Unisa