PREMIUM TIMES
By Babafemi A. Badejo
As we enjoyed the ease of having a place to sleep at the Addis Ababa airport, without going through immigration and security checks, I could not but wonder why Nigeria, the Lilliputian “Giant of Africa”, with so much in human and material resources could not serve as an hub of airlines in Africa, nay, even West Africa. Togo is fast emerging as the hub for West Africa. I like the Naija expression: “Who did this to us?”
Our short stay in the land of the Amazon women who fought better than many a man was memorable. I had written an earlier piece “Christmas musings in Cotonou and the “japa” syndrome” on our Christmas experience. With Christmas over and our invitation elapsed, we had to move on. Rather than go through the nauseating demands at privatised toll collection points by Nigerians in uniform, by way of the Seme-Krake land border, we chose to leave Benin Republic through the Cadjehoun Cotonou Airport.
The journey to the airport on the morning of 28 December, 2022, was smooth until we were stopped by the police along what I chose to call the diplomatic highway that has many embassies, the presidency, as well as the statue of the beautiful Amazon woman overlooking the presidency as if in protection of Patrice Talon, the occupant. A senior officer stepped across to the car, told us to slow down and pick an over speeding ticket about 50 metres from where he had intercepted us. I learnt from Eusebe that an earlier policeman had clocked us as driving at 67 kilometres an hour at a 60 kilometre an hour maximum area. There was no argument. We picked the penal ticket to pay CFA10,000. There was no reason for the driver to speed because I had built three hours into our departure in a small airport. No recriminations on the driver.
At the airport, Eusebe willingly and rightly accepted that he could not enter the departure lounge with us. Our son-in-law had invited us to spend the New Year in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.
It was a pleasant flight to Addis Ababa to spend the night in order to continue to Antananarivo on 29th December. To make our life easier, we stayed at the Skylight hotel within the airport. This is a new addition. We did not have to go through immigration.
Addis Ababa Bole Airport is maintaining its lead as a major hub in Africa. With an Airline that is second to none in Africa and one of the best 20 in the world, Ethiopia is indeed living up to the tag of being the diplomatic capital of Africa, after all, it hosts the Chinese donated African Union imposing building.
It was nice to see a row of huge Boeing and Airbus planes parked at the hangars, as well as on the expansive tarmac. I no longer remember when I first passed through Addis Ababa. My guess is that it was in 1981 on my way to Egypt enroute Pakistan to undertake my doctoral field research. It was a much smaller tarmac and airport hosting a few aircrafts. Subsequently, there was an expansion before the current huge expansion that links the previously phased developments. Ethiopia is one of the least liberal countries in Africa. A foreigner (except there has been a change since I left that neighbourhood) cannot own real estate in the country, except through an Ethiopian spouse. The only exception being Americans, whose government had threatened that Ethiopians would be denied all they owned in the US! So, Ethiopian Airlines uses up most of the huge space. And they have done well with 144 aircrafts, including many huge dreamliners and 31 on order. In comparison, when General Olusegun Obasanjo signed off in 1979, Nigeria Airways had 22 Aircrafts and Murtala Mohammed International Airport had just opened with two operational wings: D & E. A, B &C wings were to be subsequently built in a phased approach.
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