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.