DOING US ANYHOW

In my article of Sunday, September 15, 2013, I lamented how it was difficult for Nigerians to move around abroad without being vilified and humiliated. Legitimate Nigerian tourists, students and businessmen suffer at every stage of their travelling processes, even though what they do is add value to their host countries. Sadly, how we are perceived abroad and how we treat our fellow countrymen is clearly being observed from abroad and as a result we are left exposed and powerless.

The perception is that these Nigerians are rich and reckless and undisciplined but we must deal with them and take their money. You know for all their wahala, we can make bumper profits from them and they are very fatalistic, so their rights can be waived. They are used to it, their own government does it to them everyday and they do nothing. Their expectations are very low as a result and they will accept any situation and even pay though their rights have been denied. Last week, I received a message from one of my readers. Permit me to share this with you: 

The other day, I checked in online for a flight to Lagos from London. I tried to pay for an extra bag and the system flatly refused. At the airport, I let them know that I had checked in (to which the system confirmed), but that I could not pay for an extra bag at the discounted rate of £90. After a lot of back and forth, a snooty blank-faced curt 'manager' showed up and simply said, “Some countries like Nigeria are blacklisted and are not allowed to pay online due to fraud.” I asked her if there were no fraudulent people in England and that surely the actions of a few should not allow for blanket discrimination.

There are definitely other ways of verifying that credit cards used have not been stolen. When you shop in-flight on a British Airways flight, you must produce your passport, etc. Why is same not applicable? They just enjoy maligning us for where we come from!

So, I had to pay the higher rate of £140 and was advised to file a complaint. I called a customer service line and the lady looked into the issue and came back with a confirmation that Nigeria was indeed blacklisted. And wait for this... I had bought my ticket from a travel agent, so that didn't help; there was nothing she could do for me on that basis. I asked if obtaining my ticket from a licensed agent was a crime. And, if Nigerians were so bad, why does BA operate 14 full flights weekly to Nigeria?

In my case, the customer service agent was happy to refund the £50 difference, since I am a Gold member. What about the majority of Nigerian travellers who are not Gold members? What would be their fate? That the British government has reversed the £3000 visa bond for first time travellers is a minor victory, because the ordeals of Nigerian travellers continue everywhere in the world.

A friend of mine recently flew into Lagos from Abuja to take a pregnancy test at a designated clinic in Yaba because, after six weeks of holding on to her passport, the Canadian High Commission insisted that she must prove she was not pregnant before her visa was issued! Haba! Why us? Our own government and politicians at home stiff us, then foreign airlines and their governments treat us with such indignity. It’s just not right! 

Aisha, Lagos.

This is only one case among thousands. Daily, Nigerians endure these policies from countries whose people are ever ready to generalise whenever the name ‘Nigeria’ is mentioned. Just last week, I mentioned the ire of the Nigerian community in America, when Senator Ted Cruz fetched from the perception maltreatment well to embarrass the Nigerian community over there.

More importantly, however, is the fact that we mete out worse treatments on ourselves here at home.  Policemen are either using brute force against law-abiding citizens or PHCN is charging you for the electricity it didn’t supply. Lawmakers openly flout the rule of law by delaying or outrightly ignoring court judgements from our toothless judiciary. Politicians’ convoys drive us off the roads and it is commonplace for people to drive down the expressway in the wrong direction, whilst FRSC concentrates on new number plates. The aviation minister buys new cars whilst the Lagos airport leaks and looks like a poorly maintained relic from the 1900’s. I could go on and on. We make the job of others maligning and maltreating us easy, as we make a laughingstock of ourselves daily. We must stand up together and start saying no, otherwise our leaders, who are our interface with the world, will lead us to the abyss.