Michael AndeyinThe video clip of a French citizen refusing to listen to staff at the Abuja International Airport on New Year’s Eve was posted on X on Wednesday.
Michael Achimugu, the director of public affairs and consumer protection of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) who posted the video, said the man’s flight on Air France had a stop in Nigeria.
“It happened because he became a safety risk,” he wrote.
Yesterday, Air France deboarded an unruly passenger at the Abuja International Airport. His disruptive behaviour in the aircraft was a safety risk for other passengers. Since he did not possess a Nigerian visa, he was not allowed into Abuja. Being a French national, he was… pic.twitter.com/sZUf0yXPfA— Michael Achimugu (@mikeachimugu01) January 1, 2025
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In the video posted by the NCAA public affairs director, the French man was screaming, “My passport, my passport” while shunning attempts by the airport authorities to prevent him from going through a particular entrance.
“His disruptive behaviour in the aircraft was a safety risk for other passengers. Since he did not possess a Nigerian visa, he was not allowed into Abuja. Being a French national, he was visited by staff of the French Embassy and a doctor and then granted accommodation in the hotel within the airport terminal,” wrote Achimugu.
“Today (January 1), he was supposed to depart via Asky but could not present evidence of payment for the e-ticket he presented. The airline declined to airlift him. Immigration officials had quite a hectic time handling the erratic passenger who can be seen littering our clean terminal with what seems to be tissue paper and screaming, ‘My passport, my passport’. Apparently, the immigration officers wanted to ensure that he boarded his flight before handing the passenger his international passport to prevent him from escaping through the exit gate and into the city.”
While providing an update on Friday morning, Achimugu wrote, “Examined by a doctor and placed on a sedative, the unruly French national has finally boarded an Air France flight to CDG, Paris.”
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When a concerned X user urged Achimugu to “check out the legality of administering drugs like sedatives on anyone without their permission”, he said it was administered with the French national’s permission.
Although Achimugu claimed that the doctor placed the “unruly French national” on a sedative with his permission, it is questionable if it is okay to administer such a drug without his or a family member’s consent. If the man was unruly or incapable of making the right decisions by himself, could he be handled in a way other than sedating him?
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To ascertain whether a doctor needs a patient’s permission or their family’s before administering sedatives, EQ spoke with medical experts and reviewed various resources on consent in medical practice.
According to the National Health Service (NHS) of the United Kingdom, the principle of consent is an important part of medical ethics and international human rights law.
The NHS defines consent to treatment as the permission given by a person before they receive any type of medical treatment, test or examination. For consent to be valid, it must be voluntary and informed, and the person consenting must have the capacity to make the decision.
“If a person does not have the capacity to make a decision about their treatment and they have not appointed a lasting power of attorney (LPA), the healthcare professionals treating them can go ahead and give treatment if they believe it’s in the person’s best interests,” says the NHS.
However, there are some exceptions when treatment may proceed without the person’s consent even if they are capable of giving their permission.
Regarding informed consent, Part A Section 19 of the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria states, “Practitioners involved in procedures requiring the consent of the patient, his relation or appropriate public authority must ensure that the appropriate consent is obtained before such procedures, either for surgery or diagnostic purposes, are done, be they invasive or non-invasive. Consent forms should be in printed or in written form either as a part of case notes or in separate sheets with the institution’s name boldly indicated.”
Code on medical ethics in NigeriaDownload
What a consent form looks like in Nigeria. Source: Code on Medical Ethics in Nigeria
It can be inferred from the section quoted above that only certain medical procedures require informed consent. While the consent form used in Nigeria shows that doctors may need to obtain a person’s permission before administering anaesthesia, EQ understands that it differs from sedatives.
A sedative helps calm anxiety and makes one feel relaxed while an anaesthetic blocks pain.
Muyiwa Ajayeoba, a medical doctor, told EQ that aggressive and anxious patients often require to be placed on sedatives to help them relax. For him, the fact that a patient has been brought to a hospital could imply a sort of consent to be sedated if the need arises.
He explained that when someone is brought to the hospital in a distressed state, the healthcare provider would prioritise stabilising the patient.
“Someone who is becoming aggressive and anxious is not calm. To calm down patients with mental health illnesses, for instance, sedatives are used. And there are a thousand and one drugs that can be used to sedate someone,” he told EQ.
“Administering sedatives is part of the treatment and management of a patient. When managing seizures or preparing a patient for surgery, sedation may be a necessary part of treatment.”
Regarding informed consent, he stressed the need to understand a patient’s ability to give permission, the urgency of the situation and the need to communicate potential risks and treatments as some of the influencing factors.
“There’s something we call informed consent. But it’s not everybody that has the capacity to give you consent. You have to think about the capacity of the person to give consent, but the most important thing is the circumstances in which somebody is brought to the hospital,” the doctor explained.
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Similar to Ajayeoba’s position, a Lagos-based medical doctor, who did not want to be named, told EQ that the use of sedatives on patients is mainly aimed at calming them.
He said doctors may sedate a patient to calm them down and to serve as a restraint. And they don’t need to wait for a consent form to do that.
“However, some medications, like blood transfusions, require consent before they are administered,” he said.
“Besides, sedation is not to drug someone but to achieve calmness so they can receive better treatment. It is not even long-lasting as it usually wears off at 4 or 6 hours.”
The post EXPLAINER: Did Abuja Airport Staff Need Permission to Sedate French Citizen? appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.
