₦airaland Forum

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Northerners always protecting their own. But no rep has come out to ask for the probe of the so called targeted employment of the kids of Nigerian political class.

Johnnyessence:
congrats to richest mum in africa and great beyond.

Have you heard of ISABELLA DOS SANTOS? She is the richest woman in Africa. Stop dishing out wrong info.

rudebouy:
Gyal! If only you really knew Audu Ogbeh's profile when it comes to Agriculture, you will know that ur comparism is faulty. Its like comparing coach Samson Siasia(Akinwumi Adesina) to coach Pep Guardiola(Audu Ogbeh). They are both good but not at the same class.

Sorry am not an APC fan.

Please educate us some of us dont know his profile. Back your assertions with facts always.

Talk is cheap. I will only believe if akinwunmmi told me this not this spent force

Nice piece, you forget to include starting his tenure without the usual hustle of his mandate been challenged in the court. The Gods wants to humble him.

Nonsense, this is not a new development. This number has always been in existence just that alot of people are not aware.i used it sometime in January 2015 to report all this silly deductions globacom make from my airtime. The call agents kept on reassuring me the would get globacom to stop the deductions. At the end nothing came out od it. I just kukuma port to etisalat.
Our main issue is our regulatory agencies, the allow these guys to fleece us.

Yet another story, blame anything but the incompetence of the minister of petroleum. I weep for Nigeria. When will our govt take responsibility for their failures. Taking responsibility is the first step towards resolving any issue.

All this needless grammar for just a simple jibe at oshiomole?

And the blame game continues.

President Muhammadu Buhari was in Qatar last week and the major news that came out of the visit was the signing of Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Qatar to pave way for direct flights between major cities of both countries. While I continue to wonder whether any due diligence was done by the relevant authorities before committing Nigeria to such an agreement, there are pertinent questions as to whose idea this BASA deal is. Since Nigeria currently has no national carrier, it stands to reason that Qatar initiated the idea and that is where the problem lies: I don’t believe that the interest of our people was served by the agreement.

Early in January this year, I got a mail from a lady, Mrs Chioma Okigbo, narrating one of those unpleasant experiences to which Nigerians are usually subjected in their own country. On receiving the mail (with supporting documents), I immediately forwarded them to THISDAY aviation editor, Chinedu Eze, asking him to investigate the claims and give me a feedback. Since Mrs Okigbo’s enclosed her phone number, I also called to assure her I would follow up on the matter. It took Chinedu a week to get back to me but he confirmed Mrs Okigbo’s story. Now, this was what she wrote in her mail:

“Dear Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi,
“I felt a need to share an event that happened to me with you. On 19th November, 2015, I accessed Qatar Airways website with the intention of purchasing a ticket to visit Doha and Dubai. The visit to Dubai was the major reason for the trip as we had planned a reunion of our secondary school classmates from all over the world in that location. Having a friend working in Doha, I opted to leave Nigeria some days earlier than the planned reunion dates of 25th – 28th February.

“Before buying my ticket, I confirmed from the website that the airline was able to process visa for visitors to Qatar; in fact this information was very prominently displayed on their website. I proceeded to purchase my ticket and on Tuesday, January 19th, a month to my travel date, I visited Qatar Airways website again, this time to complete the visa process. The site redirected me to a website called Discover Qatar, which I believe is the official information center for all visitors to Qatar and had been set up by the Qatari government to provide accurate and timely travel information to visitors. I was required to complete a simple form but the first unpleasant surprise was that Nigeria was not listed among the countries under the pull down menu for Nationality. I found this curious and told my classmates that I had planned the Doha trip with a friend (who would be flying in from London) and she suggested that a country called Niceau was their own clever way of writing Nigeria. I decided however to contact the center and make proper inquiries.

“To my shock and utter dismay, I received an almost instant response from the website informing me that the government of Qatar does not issue visas to Nigerian nationals. This response upset me a great deal and raised a number of questions in my head: If we, as Nigerians are not good enough to visit their country, what exactly are they doing running an airline in ours? What is the Nigerian Government’s stance on Qataris visiting Nigeria? Do we issue visas to them or are they also not allowed in Nigeria? Why is the Federal Government of Nigeria allowing a company to run a business in Nigeria, whilst their host country feels we are all criminals?

“Anyway, I went to the Qatar Airways office where, by the way, I met some really nice Nigerians, and asked for a full refund. To add insult to injury, the airline will be deducting a 10 percent fee for cancellation! Where in the world is this fair and equitable? I felt that I needed to share this with you as I do not know the number of other unsuspecting Nigerians that would be affected by such discrimination.”

When THISDAY sought explanation for such discrimination against our nationals, the Qatar Airways Lagos Airport Manager, who simply gave his name as Hashim said: “for a Nigerian to get a Qatari visa, he ought to have a sponsor who is resident in Qatar; that is the new policy for those countries that are not listed among the nations that its citizens are allowed to visit the country (Qatar).”

And it is this same Qatar with which Nigeria has just signed a BASA deal!
For those who still may not get it, what we are dealing with here is not the usual impunity of some foreign companies operating in our country, the summary of Mrs Okigbo’s ordeal is that Qatar Airways operates and makes money from Nigeria yet our citizens are considered not good enough to enter their country like other nationals.
There are several critical issues here for both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consumer Protection Council but I will highlight only two. First, Mrs Okigbo was practically fleeced of 10 percent of her ticket money because she did not embark on a flight to a country that would not give her a visa. Two, it is an official policy of Qatar to discriminate against nationals of Nigeria.

I believe that the humiliating experience of Mrs Chioma Okigbo should not be seen as a personal insult, it is a serious affront to our country. What is perhaps more worrying is that the presidential statement announcing the BASA deal went further to disclose that Nigeria has commenced discussions on partnership (with Qatar, I imagine) towards establishing a national carrier without providing any details.

Given that the nation’s aviation industry is currently going through financial crisis with many of our local airlines highly indebted, the Buhari administration has refused to answer the most pertinent question about this idea of national carrier that is being driven more by nostalgia than economic common sense: On what model will the flag carrier be based and what are the funding plans, especially at a time like this?

Again, coming up with a prestige project at a time Nigeria needs all the resources it can muster to meet pressing national demands betrays a clear lack of seriousness on the part of this administration. Against the background that even countries like Italy and others that are better managed have found running airlines a difficult proposition with most of them divesting from the business, I still fail to understand what is driving this obsession with national carrier. However, more pertinent is the question of why the latest announcement was made in Doha after signing the BASA deal.

Since our international aviation sector is very lucrative (Nigerians travel a lot and to everywhere in the world) and we currently do not have a national carrier, the implication of any BASA deal with Qatar can only be to the advantage of Qatar Airways. While I should not begrudge them for that, I hope the Nigerian authorities also have ready answers for the questions posed by Mrs. Chioma Okigbo. Yet, there is something in this untidy affair that should make one very sad. Apparently because we are now looking anywhere and everywhere for “foreign investors”, we don’t have a sense of shame anymore. But just how cheap can a nation be?

Go and find out urself. Yeye questions. The girl will be reunited with her family in the next few minutes, you de post stale questions.

Lai all day

That's nigeria bro. Imagine ur bro served the FBI, Marines,US army, he would have been a hero. This country does not value her citizens

And the president has budgetted billions for new BMW cars. Benz no do am. Hypocrisy at its peak

Economic summit? What a waste of resources. So the govt can't come up with simple monetary and fiscal policies to tackle the slow death of our economy. This is a joke.

Crap.

HtwoOw:
Official CBN rate is 197 as at this morning




Without foreign reserve, Naira will continue to fall




OH and thanks to GEJ who chose to loot / share Nigeria's foreign reserves

Why continue to wallow in ignorance. If you hav a dollar bill will you sell at 197 or the current black market rate. Or if your brother wants to sell to you will he sell at 197 or the current black market rate
Bro, the true value of the naira is what is been traded in the black market. Don't wait for an official pronouncement that the naira has been devalued.FG is obly subsidizing dollar for a few. Use your brain.

MAN is right and you fail to understand the real issue here. Your approach is like attacking an issue from the middle. For MAN to produce they need raw materials and most of these raw materials are sourced from overseas since for some of these raw materials we don't have the capacity to produce much. The govt should wake up and drive this by giving incentives, tax breaks for pole, companies to set up industries in the country, they shouldn't just fold there hands and remind us that crude oil price is falling so there is nothing they can do. There need to be an enabling environment for bizness to thrive. Do you know how long it takes to register a company name in Nigeria or how many funny taxes you pay to community, local and state govt? At a time like this, we need a sound economic blueprint to help address this forex issue. Truth is the confidence in the Nigerian economy is at an alltine low. Go check the weekly CBN report on dollars sales by banks, you will find out that most foreign portfolio investors are pulling their funds out if Nigeria and this is also putting pressure on the naira.
You made mention of your fears for innoson capacity to handle the deluge of requests coming their way, thats the same with MAN.Is there local capacity to handle their demand now?won't it be appropriate if the govt is doing something to boost this by creating that environment?

hadaydhollarpo:
its shameful you can make diz comment. Whr were you when yahoo boiz magga even d black not to talk of d white? Malaysia, Indonesia etc has been spoilt because of fraudster like you. Dss sud begin to trail you, you gonna have sm confessions.

And the story continues. Receive knowledge IJN, so you will be able to use your brain wisely.

OP, receive commonsense abeg.

yommys01:
If it was a negative report, would you not believe it? If only that man had pulled. If only.

Which man?did u really read the report? It appears you are finding it difficult to put your thoughts together. Go get a bottle of chilled water bro, then read the story again.

BrainnewsNg:
You must be one of them?

Grow up dude, you mustn't exhibit your stupidity at all times

4.5bn. When will these lies end. Name the pole, and stop making every Nigerian look like a criminal.

This sagay man has finally lost it.

I thought Mr integrity said Abacha did not loot.smh

Simple, we are tired of all this social media trial. What an irony, only the members of a particular political party are corrupt.its only a matter of time before buhari starts doing same to his party members that step out of line.

Gumi, shut up. What's d difference between u and the shittes.born to kill and terrorise.dats your logo

Thot its supposed to be 40naira? What's the difference between 87 and 85. The should focus on eliminating these massive queues. hypocrites in power.

I challenge any buharimaniac to point out any lie or falsehood in this submission. If none, just move on to the next topic and comment.

Imagine. A little over 2bn, yet they can't pay oil marketers, we the common men and women on the streets have to suffer.thus people conned us all.

Conman, this man scammed us all.