Minority Pride

After over 20 years of being away from Nigeria, I was looking forward to my return back home. Like the prodical son, i was apprehensive, but knew that this visit will be an eye opener for me. It had to be my make or break visit.

You see, my last major event in Nigeria happened when I was returning back to my NYSC location in Kano, our taxi was attacked and all my belongings disappeared with what was a lot of money for a youth corper in the 1980's. From that day, it was only a matter of time before I checked out of the country and I did within the year.

My fear on returning home was therefore not without foundation. Stepping out into the sun was refreshing and the sight of my mother's smile gave me the welcome I so much craved outside of the airport.

In my years of being away, my country has changed, the driving from the airport was frightening, but worse was to come. The infrastructures are almost collapsing. There were very few working telephone lines, no thanks to NITEL, the roads are death traps and forget electricity. NEPA has now changed its name to something no one can remember, which is good, as Nigerians have a way of making up names to fit the inefficient parastatals.

One positive thing about Nigeria, the people have the strength to struggle. Everywhere I went, there were people selling things, oranges, fruits and anything else you can imagine. The spirits of the people are undeniable, but we need more than that to help to develop the country. I received gifts from people who had very little, so their generousity touched me to the point of being ashamed. I made friends instantly and lost acquitances were rekindled. So different from some of the souless places we live in Europe

The road for our country is a tough one. The job ahead is huge and sometimes I wonder whether we will see the fruit of any development in our life time.

I hope somebody will tell me I am so wrong.

A few months ago, several Nigerians were removed from a London to Lagos flight because they had the audacity to ask the Police who were removing a Nigerian to treat him with dignity and respect. It was obvious that those passangers had no right as far as the mighty British Airways (BA) was concerned. Several protests followed, even our normally docile President got off his sick bed to ask for a report. No action was taken by the President and his sidekicks as its always the case. How can we expect anyone else to treat our citizens with any respect when the government doesnt? By the way, how do you explain the case of Ms Okere, who was beaten black and blue by six Naval ratings for not getting out of the way of their convoy fast enough to get Real Admiral Arogundade home to eat his hot eba. Priorities are the order in the Nigerian armed forces, human life or get home quickly, its get home quickly everytime.

Anyway, back to the BA saga. BA refused to apologise for the ill treatment of Nigerians which has been happening over many decades. As a matter of fact, BA gave a 2 finger salute to the Nigerian nation, not only did it bluntly refused to apologise, it turned the case around and said it was doing Nigerians a favour. In return, apart from a few stupid Nigerians who continued to fly BA, it started to fly the plane empty rather than apologise. But thanks to combination of events, BA profit fell by 98% last quarter, so it did something it rarely does on the Lagos / London route, BA cut the fare during the summer and from next year, BA will be charging less than virgin Atlantic for that route, about half of what it was charging a few months ago.

One thing is clear from the above, like the bus ride protest during the American civil rights campaign, the customer can always show that they are in the driving seats. Some will say that a combination of events led to a reduction in the fares on that route, the credit crunch, competition, fall in profit etc. Whatever the case, BA is flying its planes almost empty to Lagos, this used to be one of the most profitable routes.

My take is that we need the protest to continue, until a full public apology is received by all those involved and we get a promise from BA that we will be treated with respect and dignity. As for me, i enjoyed my travel to Lagos by Air France, it was cheap, I did my walk from one terminal to the other, the staff were pleasant and at no point was I treated any different from any of the others on the flight.

We need to keep it together. I thank all those who made that protest a reality. If you see me on a BA flight, poke me in the nose. For as long as there is an alternative, let avoid the companies that treat us like shit. It our hard earned money, so lets get some dignity from it.

Keep well

Power to the people and a good thank you to many of those who voted with their wallets.