Just plane stupid

Nigerians never cease to amuse me wherever I go…and airports are where I think they entertain me the most. I was checking in at Murtala Mohammed International airport last Friday and noticed the inevitably long queue of passengers itching to get out of the scorching heat of Lagos and into freezing cold of London. By the time the airport officials finished inspecting my luggage (shoes, boxers, copies of The Crazy Nigerian…the usual kinda stuff) I couldn’t help but notice the pungent odour which was reminiscent of rotten fish.

Now, I knew I dressed up in a hurry and threw on a shirt that was last seen in the laundry basket so I took a quick sniff of myself – like Shaggy, ‘it wasn’t me (thank God!). But I couldn’t understand why the airport officials weren’t reacting to this offensive stench just as much as I was. Could their noses have been blocked? Was I the only one with an acute sense of smell? Someone was obviously bent on making a daring contribution to British cuisine.

Speaking of food, I enjoyed the diced chicken and Chinese noodles served on the plane when I eventually boarded. I noticed how passengers sat still whenever the food trolley made its way down the aisle. Why then do Nigerians feel it absolutely necessary to unfasten their seatbelts the moment the plane is landing? I’m yet to witness Nigerians obeying the pilot’s instruction to remain seated until the seatbelt sign/light is off. Don’t they know that if the doors open and the mobile boarding stairs are not ready then they’ll all fall off? Do they think they know better? Beats me!

The snake-like queues at the immigration points in London Heathrow probably explains why a lot of Nigerians try to rush off the plane. But an equally plausible reason would be to rush to the baggage conveyor belt to pick up your stinky contraband of fish. Not even six hours of cool temperatures in the luggage storage could mask the horrendous fumes doing a merry-go-round on the conveyor belt. I finally saw the reactions of nearby passengers going, ‘Can you smell that?’, ‘Jesus!’, ‘Hmmph!’, etc. Fortunately even the British police had their nostrils tested and molested as I saw two of them inspecting each bag – no sniffer dog required (it was that bad).

They suddenly picked up a suspicious looking soft travel bag aka ‘Ghana-must-go’ bag (no offence to Ghanaians…that’s what these particular bags are called). Oh what I’d pay to see the look on that passenger’s face when he goes to the Lost Luggage section to enquire about his/her fish – it will be there alright…and so will the police!

By the way, I think it’s important to be able to identify one’s luggage by buying those that are uniquely designed/coloured. One old lady kept picking up one piece of luggage from the conveyor belt and returning it after doubting if it was hers. Suffice to say by the time she checked a fifth time, my luggage had arrived and I left the airport. She’ll probably use the process of elimination to decide once all other passengers pick up their luggage…or maybe, just maybe, there’s a certain aroma she’s expecting πŸ˜‰

12 thoughts on “Just plane stupid

  1. You beat me to it. wa gonna write something about my trip to naij and the horrific behaviours i witnessed on the plane
    my experience; “please do not switch on phone ” that was the announcement and the next thing i hear is midnight crew’s igwe and some woman’s loud voice in yoruba “ati land o! Ibo le wa” (we have landed, where are you) i was like really!!!
    I like bags in outrageous colours red, orange and fuschia cannot be missed nor stolen πŸ˜›
    Been a min, not commented in a bit. will change πŸ™‚

    • Thanks Timi. I would like to hear your own horror stories so go ahead and post something. I actually forgot about phones being switched immediately on arrival, lol. Nice one. I see you’re wearing fuscia in your profile pic so I know the colour of your travel bags πŸ˜‰

  2. “Don’t they know that if the doors open and the mobile boarding stairs are not ready then they’ll all fall off? Do they think they know better? ”
    – Oh yes they do actually. The average Nigerian thinks he is smarter than God; we think the laws of life don’t apply to us. And that’s why we continually make a mess of everything. Yet it never occurs to us to judge the Nigerian tree by the fruit it bears…dumb,dumber,dumbest!

  3. I am not sure I am looking forward to a Nigerian revolution anymore because right now Nigerians have become so wild and ignorant that they wont be able to stay focused if a revolution occurs. They’ll be more interested in looting and harming each other than resisting the corruption that triggered the revolution in the first place.What I see here doesn’t look promising at all.
    But I will teach-unite-pray.

    • Please do. Things look pretty bleak now but let’s stay positive and make our own little impact. God isn’t blind – He’s timing is always the best πŸ™‚

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