Intellectualismo!

British Airways cuts the image of a lawless, racist airline. Ironically, its lawlessness begins and ends with its treatment of Nigeria and Nigerians because Nigeria itself is a lawless country run by men who do not care a hoot about what treatment foreigners met out to their subjects. The BA crew involved in the ugly incident of March 27, 2008, where 136 Nigerian passengers were ordered out of the airline’s plane are quoted as telling their victims that nothing would happen. They apparently were speaking from a position of strength given their experience in the past.

They would have recalled the fact that when Spanish immigration officials murdered a Nigerian in a brutal deportation process, it was the mass protest organised by Nigerian human rights organisations –not the actions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – that compelled the government of Spain to even investigate the matter. In fact, at a crowded press briefing on the incident, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent most of his time and energy listing the sins of the deceased deportee which, in his opinion, justified the high handedness of the Spanish immigration officials. He did not care to chase away the hawk before blaming the chicken.

In Nigeria, BA does just about anything because anything goes in the land. Sometime in 2006, BA was so defiant of the regulatory authorities of the Nigerian aviation industry that for several days, it over-shot its flight frequency on the London-Lagos route despite repeated warnings from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The act of lawlessness was only halted when NCAA compelled BA to fly an empty plane back to London. Sometime in the early 1990s, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the late Abdulkadir Ahmed, bought a first class return ticket of BA for a trip to London with members of his family.

On the return leg of the journey, BA downgraded the ticket to economy class without recourse to the august Nigerian traveler whose duty it was at the time to authorise the foreign currency remittance of the racist airline’s loot in Nigeria to Britain. When the CBN governor protested, the explanation from BA was that his ticket was paid in naira and that the airline had to give priority to passengers with foreign currency denominated tickets. Ahmed lost. The CBN governor was so frustrated by the treatment of BA staff that as soon as he returned to Nigeria, he demanded a position paper from the management of Nigeria Airways on how to resuscitate the flagging national flag carrier as a way of calling the bluff of the foreign airline.

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My home internet has been down for a couple of weeks now. Boy, does it feel good to be back!

After a rousing demand for an apology, an investigation initiated by the President and one month later, BA finally ‘apologized’ for the way it handled the March 27 crisis previously blogged with some very interesting and spot on comments.

BA’S RESPONSE

British Airways (BA) has apologised to Nigeria over the maltreatment meted out to Nigerian passengers at Heathrow Airport in London five weeks ago.

A statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by BA Media Consultant, Ademola Adedoyin, expressed “regret (for) the upset that the events onboard the BA75 to Lagos on 27th March have caused in Nigeria.

“We have made it clear that the decision to offload passengers was made in consultation with, and on the advice of, the United Kingdom police; and the sole aim of this decision was to ensure the safety of our passengers, aircraft, and crew.

“Offloading passengers is not a decision that is taken lightly, and is a rare occurrence. However, the disturbance on board the BA75 service to Lagos on Thursday 27th March was a very serious incident which required the presence of 20 uniformed police officers to regain control of the situation.”

Adedoyin added that the commotion made it dangerous to travel on the aircraft.

“Given the level of disruption on board the plane as it was preparing to depart, it was not possible to pinpoint which passengers were the most involved. In addition, our crew was subjected to both verbal abuse and physical assault which, in the confined space of an aircraft, can be a particularly serious issue.

“Hence the police decided, with the agreement of the captain, that it would be unwise to let all the passengers travel on the aircraft as their behaviour could pose a safety risk.

“Of the 133 passengers offloaded following the disturbance 64 re-boarded the flight before take-off. Those offloaded were of various nationalities, including British and American passengers. There was also a mix of nationalities among those who flew, including Nigerian passengers.

“The arrest and detention of one of the passengers involved was a police decision, and is not something that British Airways can comment on. The remaining offloaded passengers were offered overnight accommodation where appropriate, and were re-booked on alternative flights.”

Adedoyi said BA is working with the Nigerian Government to ensure the high standard operations between Nigeria and the U.K. continues.

“British Airways has a long and proud history of serving Nigeria and its people. For over 70 years the airline has flown from the UK to Nigeria, connecting the country to the rest of the world.”

The passenger who spoke up for other Nigerians and the deportee on the flight, Ayodeji Omotade, and others had asked BA to apologise, and to withdraw the six months’ ban on him by the airline.

Outrage over the incident made President Umaru Yar’Adua to order an investigation by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

[Source: GbengaSesan May 2nd 2008]

Hmm… measly apology or arrogant piece of PR drivel?

If your seventy year old mother starts insulting you and crapping all over your house, you put up with it willingly if all your life she had unconditionally loved and cared for you. You consider it a temporary bit of inconvenience for all her years of devotion and sacrifice. But if all your life she was an absentee mother, that bond just isn’t there; you’ll have no qualms about bundling her off. The same principle applies here, although BA is not a senile old coot and during most of our relationship we supplied the ‘teat’ for their latching on.

BA is flagrantly racist. Heck, even non-Africans have written them off as snobbish and incompetent. The apology does nothing to repair the damaged reputation especially for those who have experienced their numerous ’services’ first hand, as Cxsm wrote in his comment:

British Airways has always gotten away with many atrocious acts against its paying passengers and I can firmly state this because I myself have experienced their racism, maltreatment, extreme rudeness, spraying of insecticides, several damages, losses or missing of my baggages, ruined vacations and business trips, being bumped or left stranded, being stranded overnight at the airport by their extremely rude staff, apart from travelling in their crampy, broken down planes with malfunctioning radios, movie screens, broken chairs, broken food trays, non-working air ducts amongst other undesirable experiences.

For those who are satisfied with an acknowledgement from the carrier and a hint of apology, this doesn’t detract from the reality that the genesis of the upheaval was totally sidestepped. Are Nigerians supposed to stop complaining and feel better because “those offloaded were of various nationalities including British and American passengers”? Though I suspect they were black-British (like Mr. Omotade) and black-Americans.

The fact remains that the security authorities onboard the aircraft used unecessary force to detain a man who obviously had no where to run. For that they offer no explanation or apology. What assurances are there that there won’t be a repeat in future?

They also blamed the forceful removal of Mr. Omotade from the aircraft on the police. This same ‘relevant authority’ that pried a terminally ill cancer patient from her hospital bed and deported her because her visa had expired. It’s very reassuring to know that as a black person it falls to any one of us, at any time, to be used as a tool to exemplify the ugly side to freedom and (dis)respect for human rights.

They stop short of asking us to pay for tickets without flying because that’s what it comes down to; they want our money without having to put up with us.

We’ll wait and see how Ayodeji Omotade’s lawsuit goes…

Last year, Osamuyi Aikpitanhi (pictured below) was manhandled by Spanish authorities during deportation back to Nigeria. He was handcuffed, gagged, beaten and eventually suffocated to death. It took an uproar from Nigerians in the diaspora as well as prominent citizens in the country for the Spanish government to own up to the wrongful death of the young man.

Last month, another Nigerian who was being deported cried out while being manhandled by four or five officers onboard a BA aircraft. A fellow passenger, Mr. Ayodeji Omotade, after hearing the man’s continual moans and groans for about twenty minutes pleaded with the security men not to kill him.

The deportee was immediately taken off the plane. The officers then returned to arrest Mr. Omotade.  He was handcuffed and dragged off the aircraft without being formally charged with anything. When other passengers protested his arrest, the pilot decided to evict all 135 passengers from the economy section of the aircraft!

Mr. Omotade, a British-born IT consultant from Chatham Kent, enroute to Nigeria for his brothers wedding was later charged with affray and accused of involvement in criminal activities. The money he had on, about £1613, which were meant for friends and relatives, was siezed and he was asked to prove they weren’t meant for or acquired through criminal means.

Ten hours later after bail, he returned to the airport and was told his luggages had probably been shipped off to Nigeria in addition to a lifetime ban from BA for being outspoken over the perceived maltreatment. In his own words:

Eventually, one week and one day later, my bags were brought to me at home. One was badly damaged and the other was intact. British Airways delibrately made sure I missed the wedding because if they were kicking me off their flight, they would have removed my bags from the flight. They were all there when the police officers made me to sit on the floor and heard me pleading to allow me fly for my brother’s wedding. I could have made either KLM or Virgin Nigeria the following Friday morning.

I will not want to believe that the authorities involved in the situation deliberately or cleverly punished me unnecessarily out of frustration for not being able to restrain or subdue a deportee or that I as a fee paying passenger was accused of affray with violence when I was voicing my concerns about the disturbances caused by the deportees. I never mentioned any abusive or swear words neither was I physically threatening anyone. My luggage mysteriously was lost and I have been banned on all British Airways flights without a chance to say my part of the story to redeem myself. 135 passengers were asked to leave the flight because they expressed displeasure regarding the disturbances caused by the deportees and the officers trying to restrain him. My ticket was even refused to be endorsed by BA to enable me to fly with another airline. I need full compensation of my loss and also a letter of apology from British Airways.

All protests and petitions have fallen on deaf ears. BA has kept mum about the incident despite calls for the airline to publicly apologize for the ill treatment of the 135 passengers by April 30th or face an allround boycott by Nigerians.  

I have flown BA only twice in my life and sworn off it for good! I don’t want to wait to be booted off a flight to know that despite the high patronage by Nigerians, we are not regarded highly enough to be treated equitably. The pilot’s actions was unjustified and uncalled for. BA should apologize and compensate all the affected individuals appropriately; especially Mr. Omotade.

Much as the British govenment and it’s ilk despises us (Nigerians) they realize their dependence on us is crucial. It’s a mutual relationship really, yet, this is one among many inumerable incidences of prejudice and gross human rights violation routinely meted by airline staff on Nigerians. The most recent of which has come under fire is the spraying of disinfectants in all Lagos bound aircrafts. I know China Southern airlines, which I flew with recently, sprays pesticides because of mosquitoes, but I can’t understand why disinfectants should be applied unto passengers in aircrafts unless they are contagion.

The British govenment needs Nigerians. In the post 9/11 season of transatlantic flights decline, the Lagos-London route almost literaly kept BA afloat. Presently there are daily flights from Abuja and Lagos to London respectively.

In Britain both legal and illegal immigrants are a valuable tax-generating asset. The govenment is in a dillemma about tightening immigration laws. On one hand they risk inviting in the wrong type of people, on the other they risk loosing skilled workers. In the current HSMP point system Nigeria is grouped together with Afghanistan. The most unlikely country to be considered at economic parity with Nigeria. There can only be one explanation for the relative mark down; They need Nigerians!

The British HIgh Commission of Nigeria makes millions of Naira from  visa applications (on a monthly basis, I dare say). Less then 20% of all applications are successful. For the unsuccessful, their application fees are not refunded. The High Commission generates an absurdly high amout of revenue from application fees alone, all their offices in Nigeria are self-sustained. Consequently they’ve been weaned off financial reliance on the Home Office.

The British High Commision has no qualms about issuing visas to looters and thieves, but when the common man applies they almost have to pry open his mouth and count his teeth to make sure they’re really his and he is not in fact stealing them. Despite this, many will continue to try their luck to migrate  to the UK where they can be productive and enjoy the fruits of their productivity. Thousands of students will also apply to study in the UK because of the warped perspective of Nigerian employers who value UK degrees over locally obtained ones.

Needless to say, it’s high time Nigerians demand better treatment in this symbiotic if not equal relationship. We no longer live in collonial times where we have to fear offending the master.

I urge Nigerians  to register their protest by contacting the British Airways. You can fill up an online complaint form by clicking Customer Relations. Or call 0844 493 0 787 (UK).

Read also Ayodeji Omotade VS British Airways by Reuben Abati and It’s easy to be snotty with an airline so haughty that it regards it’s customers as an inconvenience by Robert Fisk of the Independent.

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References:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nigerians-call-for-boycott-of-ba-after-deportation-812649.html

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/8937/55 

http://www.nigerianmuse.com/nigeriawatch/abati/Ayodeji_Omotade_vs_British_Airways_by_Reuben_Abati

Picture of Osamuyi Aikpitanhi culled from: http://www.ligali.org/article.php?id=1811

http://russellwise.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/nigerians-call-for-boycott-of-ba-after-deportation/