Mr Fortune Idu, Convener, International Protocol Officers Conference (IPOC), says professional protocol officers are critical to improving passenger experience, airport security and operational efficiency.

Idu made the assertion at the 13th IPOC 2026 on Wednesday in Lagos.

He said protocol officers played a critical role in maintaining order, facilitating events and coordinating activities within organisations, including airports.

According to him, protocol officers are responsible for ensuring that travel arrangements, accommodation, events and other engagements are properly coordinated.

“A protocol officer can make or mar your event or your activity. If he decides to choose the wrong MC, your event becomes a joke. If he decides not to coordinate travel properly, you end up in the wrong place.

“If he decides to choose the wrong hotel for you, you go into an unsecured environment where you can be kidnapped. So, these are very critical things, and it requires training and learning to help them to focus and become very professional,” he said.

Idu said the conference had, over the past 13 years, contributed to the professionalisation of protocol practice by providing a platform for capacity building, networking and knowledge sharing.

He said the establishment of the Centre of Protocol Profession Development had further strengthened efforts to professionalise the sector.

According to him, professionals who undergo training at the centre can become members of the Council of Protocol Professionals, providing a pathway for formal recognition of the profession.

Idu identified career progression and the perception of protocol officers as mere support or administrative staff among challenges facing the profession.

He said the conference had helped to change that perception by promoting protocol as a specialised professional function.

Idu said the growing attendance at the conference, with participants drawn from virtually all states of the federation, demonstrated increasing recognition of the profession.

“Everyone here, there are just very few people who came from Lagos; most people came from outside Lagos. So, you have almost all the states of the federation represented here.

“That tells you that people are listening, and they are beginning to reckon with the job function of protocol officers,” he said.

On airport operations, Idu said trained protocol officers were increasingly contributing to efforts to curb touting and promote responsible behaviour within the aviation environment.

He said many airport protocol officers had been trained to understand their professional responsibilities and avoid being associated with touting activities.

“They are actually preaching against the touting. And you can see that they are now part of the campaign against unruly behaviour in the aviation system,” he said.

Idu urged protocol officers to strengthen networking, share information and recognise areas where their responsibilities overlap with those of other administrative professionals.

He advised practitioners to treat such areas of convergence as opportunities for collaboration rather than competition.

“We need to kill that mentality of, ‘Are you taking my job?’ We need to take the convergence as a point of discussion, networking and exchanging rather than discord and confusion,” he said.

The King and Queen of the Air also launched a campaign “Not on my flight” to kick against unruly passenger at the event.