Nigeria Memoirs – 5 : Air Travel Tales
Not so long ago, there was a time when you could start a domestic airline in Nigeria by owning 3 aircraft, of which at least 1 should have been serviceable. Ownership of aircraft allowed tokunbo (slang- second hand/ used) aircraft taken on lease from foreign companies. However, now it has been increased to 6 with minimum 3 serviceable aircraft. This policy had sparked spawning of a number of airlines in those days. Consequently, due to poor maintenance and lack of safety mechanisms a large number of air disasters also occurred. A few of my reminiscences – navigating quagmires of air travel in Nigeria are enumerated below.
LAGOS 2003
Lagos is to Nigeria what Mumbai is to India, a bustling business capital of the country with a very deep port, much deeper than Mumbai. The international airport had only 2 immigration counters, one each for foreign and Nigerian nationals and only 2 belts for luggage with the loop length of only 40 feet, of which only one would be operational at a time. Chaos, long queues and exasperating waiting time nurtured unending corruption. In the domestic airport, the growth in airport facilities did not match with increase in domestic airlines. Inside the terminal, each airline had a single window facility with 6 feet of frontage. Desk of 3 feet width for human interaction and 3 feet for baggage weighing and collection. Now imagine 7 airlines counters placed shoulder to shoulder in just 40 feet span, set up for provision of all services to include enquiry, sale of ticket, issue of boarding pass, check in luggage and reverse process for cancellation of ticket, refund and return of baggage. Kudos to the jugaad and Nigerian ability to institute make shift improvisations that they had made it a seamless efficient process. Today it all appears an unrealistic proposition when you visualize the traffic and hassles that would have existed in Mumbai on a comparable scale 2 decades back.
I was a frequent flyer, shuttling between one state to another, flying to at least 2 destinations every week trying to set up eye hospitals, primary health care projects and safe drinking projects in all its 6 geo-political zones for poor and disadvantaged communities. Delays of 2 to 3 hours was the norm while 6 -7 hours delay were quite frequent. There were no waiting areas. Good thing, the people were very helpful for a small dash (slang – tip). Information on which flight was getting ready to take off and which flight was getting further delayed would get quickly disseminated to enable flyers to buy or cancel their tickets. All transactions were done in cash. Nothing would be carried forward to the next day unlike nowadays when it is put into airline’s account for refund, hopefully in 3 months.
The winter in Nigeria is characterized with dry and dusty desert wind (Harmattan), blowing from the Sahara sweeping down towards the Atlantic Ocean covering most of the North and South West Nigeria. This heavy amount of dust in the air can severely limit visibility and block the sun at times for several days. Once, I had to attend an important gathering as a donor, in the honour of a prominent citizen where a chair in the university was to be instituted. It was an hour’s flight, just a day’s work: fly in – donate – fly out. There were 3 airlines for onward travel which would have enabled me to attend the function. With no check-in bags, I purchased the tickets of all 3 airlines, planning to board the first one to take off and seek refund for other 2 before flying. As the delay started mounting, 2 more airlines announced that they were also approaching their nominated departure time. Now, I had tickets of 5 airlines but none had announced boarding. I waited from 7 to 3 for 8 hours at the airport and finally returned dejected; task unaccomplished but with refund money of all 5 airline tickets in my pocket. Such common occurrences would leave us exhausted losing a full working day with absolutely no output. Reminds of Milton’s sonnet – On His Blindness ..
“They also serve who stand and wait”.
ABUJA 2004
After a year in Lagos, I shifted the NGO’s office and my residence to Abuja, the political capital of Nigeria, much like what Delhi is to India. Lagos was in SW corner. The advantages of central location would ensure enormous savings of our resources in terms of travel costs and time. Here, the airport facilities were a shade better organized, but only a shade better. We would still have long queues at multiple points rather than at a single desk.
On one occasion I was to fly out for a formal meeting with a State Governor on proposal to set up an eye hospital. The State Health Commissioner and affiliated staff had already visited one of our newly set up hospital and had expressed their enthusiasm with our overall model. This meeting was to formally discuss the time lines, role of the Government, our role and financial obligations which would finally end in signing of the MOU. Everything had been planned to the T to complete every aspect in a single visit spread over 2 days. Meeting on the 1st day, followed by draft agreements to be whetted by their legal team and the signing ceremony in front of press on the next day was planned.
I embarked on the trip early in the morning. I was up early for the 1st flight of the day, usually on-time. The flight was on time. But on reaching the destination, I discovered that my bags had not arrived. I could not go for the meeting in my current outfit. Not in jeans and T shirt, in a country where formal suit and a tie are very much the norm. And, most importantly, some of the vital documents were in my baggage. I exactly knew what had to be done. I knew every bit of the nook and corner of the airport. I sneaked out to the aircraft parking area where the aircraft that had brought me in, was almost ready to roll out for the next flight. The security staff could be seen running behind me urging me to stop. Hands held high, in clear view indicating that I was not carrying any weapon and not attempting at any serious wrong doing, I fervently gestured the pilot to stop. Surprisingly, the security staff turned out to be courteous enough and did not attempt to manhandle or forcefully remove me.
It’s not often that one sees an expatriate signaling from ground to stop an aircraft starting its move towards the air strip. In Nigeria, those days more than 75% of the pilots were expatriates. In a sympathetic overture, the pilot came down by lowering the ladder from the cockpit. After patiently understanding my plea, he requested the ground staff to check the cargo bay for any baggage that had been forgotten to be downloaded.
As a routine practice, the airline staff would get the baggage reconfirmed on the tarmac at the starting point before loading in the aircraft. The passengers would only be allowed to board after this process. This was a precautionary measure undertaken across all airlines because terrorism was starting to take roots. Since I had identified my bags before boarding, I was 100% positive that my bags had been loaded and would still be in the cargo bay. Thankfully, my bags were located quickly and brought out. I had no proof if there existed a malafide intention but the airline staff apologized profusely and requested not to file in a complaint. Truly, “where there is a will there is a way”.
ABUJA 2005
Internet banking was still a few years away. Communication on mobile sets had just commenced that too restricted to only 3 towns. Landlines were far and few. Cash transactions were the order of the day. Out station cheques would get lost, return undelivered and even deposited in wrong accounts. Our accountant was at his wits end as we started expanding our operations. We had our projects coming up in different states of Nigeria literally spread across the country from one end to the other and non-availability of money was severely restricting our work. If you look at the map our operations extended from NW corner Kebbi to NE corner Adamawa and SE corner Cross River to SW corner Lagos. It was impossible to ensure availability of money for project expenses even with a notice of 2-3 weeks.
I was visiting each project as it is, at least once in a fortnight, so I decided that I would carry and deliver cash instead of relying on traditional banking systems. Biggest denominator in currency notes was Naira 500. Each project needed about 5 Lakh on a fortnightly basis as revenue expenses less for salaries & medicines. Since, I was travelling from one project to another, I would carry 3 project funds at a time weekly. That’s more than a sack-full… about 15 Lakh in 500 denominations (30 bundles). Certainly, not advisable to carry on person on a regular basis. It would be carrying a mark on yourself. Though very risky but I had no other option. For 1 year, I would carry the cash with bank certificates, ensure my bags are scanned, checked and loaded in the aircraft in front of me and only then I would board the flight. Fortunately, this was possible. Almost all processes were manual and very little automation existed. I believe, I was indeed blessed with the Divine Grace that no untoward incident occurred. Starting with 2, we were able to start 11 projects: 4 Eye Care, 4 Primary Health Care and 3 Water projects in a span of 2-2.5 years; a phenomenal increase in expatriate strength from 3 to 19 of which 9 were doctors/surgeons.
ENUGU 2006
A common event with airlines is overbooking done in anticipation of some cancellations. And, when cancellations don’t occur, all late arrivals on some pretext or the other are denied boarding. I went through an altogether a new experience. The aircraft had started rolling for take-off. The hostess had started her announcements. To our dismay, the aircraft was turned back and brought to the parking bay. As soon as the aircraft halted, the security staff moved in and politely asked 12 of us, seated in 2 front rows: 3 on either side of the aisle to disembark. We were told it was for security reasons and we duly complied. Our baggage was also off loaded.
Once we were all on the ground, much to our chagrin, we saw a troupe of men and ladies pouring out of the VIP dignitary’s lounge heading straight into the aircraft without any checks of the boarding pass. We had been trooped out like riff-raffs with assurance to be accommodated on the next flight. Its then the enormity of the betrayal dawned upon us. The small airlines in Nigeria are usually sponsored / partly owned by Oga (Nigerian slang for people with power). One such group had suddenly decided to travel and be the cause for our insult, indignity and harassment.
INDIA – ETHIOPIA – NIGERIA 2009
From 2003, I had been travelling to Nigeria thrice a year and from 2007, even more frequently four to five times a year on behalf of the Board of Directors. My frequent travel had made me conversant with the airports in 3 countries and airport staff handling Ethiopian airlines. I was on their Gold frequent flyer – Sheba list. In addition, I had also become familiar with the Nigerian High Commission due to my regular visits for visa formalities, esp. for my new joiners. By 2009, this travel process had become a matter of routine. Complacency had set in.
My travel scheduled for Mar 09 was delayed due to important meetings getting rescheduled in this visit though I had taken the visa in time. With tickets in hand, on reaching the airport, as I was assembling my tickets, passport, travel insurance, yellow fever record for presentation at the check-in counter for the boarding pass, I realised that the visa pasted on my passport was of a different individual. I had entirely missed checking of the details, assuming as always, it would be in order. Option did exist to postpone my travel and that could be highly embarrassing. But then in 2009, I was on a high, riding a tiger without a care in the wind. I could get away with anything and everything.
With hindsight, I know it was utterly foolish!!!
I travelled on a false visa across 3 countries check-in and immigration counters once on the onward and second time on the return journey, besides within Nigeria to multiple destinations. It could be a non bailable sentence but with Divine Grace, I survived. All my guile and ready wit was tested on this trip. On return, when I encountered the Nigerian High Commission, with a bluster they just waved off the error. Without blinking, he picked up the ink remover, erased the wrong name and wrote my name. Fortunately, the era of biometrics and digital records had not yet become all pervasive.
See the changed names in RED circle. All other unchanged details are in BLUE circle viz Entry Visa No + Passport Nos perforated on right edge. The immigration seals with travel dates are also the same. One extra seal is of subsequent travel.
Well, that was 2009 and let me add nothing much has changed even now. Cheers !!!
By Colonel Akhil Gupta
