The Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Madueke and the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Robert Dewar Have held talks over the British Airways incident of March 27, 2008 where over a 100 Nigerians were ordered off a Lagos bound aircraft for protesting against the inhuman treatment of a Nigerian deportee.
Madueke met with Dewar in his office in Abuja yesterday where he reiterated that President Yar’Adua’s posture on Citizen Diplomacy would not tolerate the inhuman treatment of any Nigerian for any reason, even when there are allegations of criminal activities.
He added that the bilateral relationship which the two nations have enjoyed over the years has ensured the temperate reactions to the matter, but to maintain it, Nigerians must be treated with dignity within and outside the shores of the country.
He appreciated the British government’s interest in the matter while urging Nigerians abroad to always comply with the laws of their countries of residence.Dewar gave the assurance that he had taken a special interest in the matter and would dig to find more information.
He appreciated Nigeria’s effort in peace keeping and conflict resolutions globally, while assuring Nigerians that the British government is educating its business community to be of best practice.
Meanwhile, the Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, has condemned attitude of British Airways over the way it responded to the Federal Government’s invitation to explain why it maltreated Nigerian passengers on its flight 0075, that left London to Lagos on March 27.
Demuren, who was directed to investigate the matter by the Federal Government, invited the airline who sent its junior officials to the meeting.
Peeved by the attitude, Demuren terminated the meeting and directed the airline to come at a later date with its top officers as representatives, remarking that the airline should not treat an issue, which the Federal Government is interested in with such levity.
Commenting on the issue, Minister of State for Air Transportation, Mr Felix Hyat, told newsmen when he visited Lagos on Wednesday, that government was miffed by the report and said it would give it full priority after the investigation by NCAA.
Hyat condemned the incident, and said maltreatment of Nigerian passengers by foreign airlines must stop, noting that government must ensure that similar thing never happen again.Early last year, former Minister of State, Air Transport, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, also condemned BA’s treatment of its Nigerian passengers.
On March 27 this year, about 137 Nigerian passengers on board British Airways flight 0075 from London to Lagos, witnessed the gory treatment of a Nigerian deportee who was handcuffed and forced into the flight.
The way he was manhandled made the deportee to shout for help, which prompted a Nigerian passenger, Ayodeji Omotade, to call the British immigration officials manhandling the deportee to exercise restraint.
Angered by this, the immigrations officials took the deportee and the sympathizer out of the plane, arrested the later and detained him, while the deportee was later returned to the flight.
Outraged by the incident, Nigerians who either witnessed or read the report in the British tabloid, Daily Mirror, wrote a protest letter, signed by over 1000 Nigerians, to the President, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, demanding a front page apology in a Nigerian national daily newspaper to all passengers on-board flight BA0075, a written apology and appropriate compensation to Mr Ayo Omotade, lifting of the life ban imposed on him by the airline, and all criminal charges against him dropped forthwith.
But in a swift reaction, the British Airways in a statement, however, stated that it was right, and quoted the UK Immigration Act 1971, to back the action.
yes, I think its time for the Nigerian government to take seriously the issue of how Nigerians are treated in the international scene. They should take it so seriously to the extent that the next Nigerian seen at any airport will receive immediate respect.
2-years ago, I was on a flight from Milan to Lagos. After the plane lifted upground, I went to ease myself in the toilet. Lo and behold a human being was bound to his seat, tucked away in one corner of the plane, at the back of the economy section, where the kitchen/store room was. I wondered if this guy was a Nigerian or another African en-route to his country via Lagos. I just spied the man by mistake, as I was catching a glance to my left. There were two plane-steward-looking men standing close, but with the muscles bulging here and there, I knew they were not merely plane stewards, but security guards.
People going to the toilet wouldn’t have spied this man. His legs were tied somewhere underneath his seat, his hands tied to the back in such a way that I could only imagine what would happen in case of an emergency where everyone would seek to save himself first before remembering the deportee tied to his seat.
Honestly I felt very bad. I felt ashamed and hurt. To tie up an animal in such a way would be total wickedness, not to talk of a human being. I wondered if the plane stewards would even give him food/water. I could not contain my feelings, I decided to go back in another 10-minutes hoping to catch another glimpse and talk to someone about the fellow. Lo and behold, he has disappeared from his original location. The macho-mania’s were still standing there, and they gave me a kinda look, especially when I looked to the former location. They realized that I had seen something they didn’t want to be seen, and had relocated the fellow. Whether they have now shoved him undeneath a cupboard somewhere, I couldn’t say, but definitely he wasn’t where I saw him before and he wasn’t transferred to a seat – as there were about 10-vacant seats at the plane’s rear. Now, wherever the guy was shoved into in a 4/5hour flight to Lagos was definitely not near the definition of comfort, how much more to talk of human rights.
British Airways, you need to make an apology.
links:
NVS:British Airways must apologize to Nigerians or face boycott
mark
May 24, 2008
the guy missed it.he should have waited till he gets to mm and descend on the racist fool.we hope they do it again,we will join hands to beat the immigy people and then they will know how to treat human beings. racist fools