I read this in an online platform. Whether it is true or not, I can not confirm, but I like it to buttress what I want to talg today.
it is supposed to be a story told by MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, THE LAST SOVIET LEADER in his younger days, while studying in Europe… He used to study alongside two Japanese students.
He wrote; “The 2nd World War had come to an end & Japan had been destroyed, and was facing crippling economic sanctions as well”.
During the classes, these two Japanese students used to take turns to write the notes, while the other student would mend the pencil and keep it ready for use. In those days, the Japanese pencils used to be of inferior quality and the lead tip of the pencil which was very brittle, used to break frequently.
Fellow students advised them to use the far superior pencils made in England, which were not expensive either.
With tears in their eyes the Japanese students said, “If we do not purchase and use our own products however bad they may be, then who else will buy them and how will our people and industries develop. We don’t deny that we do not have good quality today, but there will definitely be a day, when the whole world will use our Japanese pencils”.
For some years now, 2013 to be precise, a Nigerian, Allen Onyeama launched an airline called Air Peace. This airline has been making waves in the Nigerian and West Africa air space, competing with other airlines in that sub region and making more news than all of them. This is simply for one very prominent fact, Mr Onyeama has looked beyond the scope of ethnic and religious and even class and gender restrictions that heve pervaded the Nigerian economic and political space and has literary brought that great nation to her knees, in his bid to form a focused, professional and efficient work force around his organisation.
Stories are told of Oluwatoyin Olajide who is the second-most powerful person in Air Peace after Allen Onyema, who is the Chairman of Air Peace.
She runs and is in charge of the daily day-to-day activities of Air Peace as COO of the airline, and then reports to the owner and chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema.
It is a known fact that the Air Peace team totally think out of the box, always challenging the stereotypes and unproductive systems. This writer has listened to Allen Onyema talk about the obstacles his organisation encountered, surmounting every kind of technical, administrative, aviation rules and laws and diplomatic gridlocks while trying to negotiate its way into taking its flight to the UK and how they succeceded at last. It is now history that the first flight of Air Peace landed in London last week. The Scope News deeply shares the joy of this success.
However, one deep virtue that has seperated Air Peace from other competing air lines is the passion of Allen Onyema for Nigeria and also made in Nigeria products. It is on record that when ever Nigerians are stranded anywhere in the world, Air Peace flies out there to fly them home; be in those in the throes of xynophobia in South Africa, or those stranded in the fracases of Sudan or immigrants of Nigerian origin in North Africa. The Air Peace staff parade in the heat of the UK debut flight in gittering Nigerian attire, some of them made in traditional red Isi agu and all in the Nigerian symbolic red caps still is causing ripples in the international and national media world. We also listened to him step out of the aviation world into football in Nigeria, and threatened to join football lovers in Nigeria to take the nations football management body to court if they do not give due consideration to a Nigerian coach to fill the present vacant position.
PROPOSAL FOR EUROPE MAINLAND FLIGHTS
We Nigerians and indeed Africans and Europeans in the mainland of Europe sincerely and happily celebrate the mammoth stride that has been made by your organisation in this recent past, especially the breakthrough into the United Kingdom airspace. From the press conferences and other public appearances of the captain of this great entity that is Air Peace, one can appreciate the drudgeries the organisation went through in order to achieve this wonderful feat. Once again our felicitations.
However, as we join the world in celebrating the debut flight to the UK and preparations being made fort he USA, we cannot help but feel like the elder brother of the scriptured prodigal son who was left out of his brother’s party. I will not insult your expertise and unquestionable experience in the aviation industry by trying puerilely to go into its nitty gritties, but I know figures. Without getting statistical about it, I know that there are more Africans in mainland Europe than there are in the UK. Yes, one can not discontenace Nigeria’s colonial attachment to Britain, but hard core, finance based business as that of aviation should be seperated from sentiments. Putting the Balkans and the Scandinavians and even Eastern Europe aside for future discuss let us concentrate on the potentials of core Western European countries minus UK. These are about fifteen countries with an unimaginable number of Nigerians in particular and Africans in general. Belgium, the head quarters of the European Union and also the head quarters of the African Carribean Pacific Group of states comprising of about 79 countries will create a formidable market for Air Peace. I am sure.
There are three African air lines that are popular hereabouts; Ethiopian Airline, Air Morrocco and Air Egypt. One can see that these are north and east and maybe south African airlines, but none for West Africa. The rest are European airlines all competing for the West African air space. One can also see that when push comes to shove in the competition for the Europe West Africa routes that Air peace will surely have a pronounced advantage as it is likely to control a greater percentage of the massive Nigerian market.
In Belgium, there is an airline called Brussels Airline. This airline flies to several African countries at cost friendly fares, but not to Nigeria. When some of us took the initiative to contact their office to enquire why, it was explained to us that Brussels Air is a subsidiary to Lufthansa of Germany, and therefore has a policy not to fly the same route with the mother company. Lufthansa goes to Nigeria. Therefore what is supposed to be an advantage, as Nigerians are heavy travelers, is now a punishment to us. An intervention by Air Peace will create great advantages to the company.
Time to think for ourselves now.
Made in Nigeria is the way to go . Starting with you. That’s the only way to shore up the Naira.
