Can Anything Good Come Out of Nigeria? The Story of First Nation Airline That Helped Recover my Tablet

After rigorous participation in the just concluded three-day voter education training on the continuous voter’s registration and permanent voters card distribution that was organised by Youth Initiative Growth and Advocacy (YIAGA), Youth Alliance on Coalition and Election Reform (YACORE) and supported by United Nation Developmental Program (UNDP) in Port Harcourt, returning to Lagos was the next truth rocking my mind.

I enjoyed the oil rich city even though there was no time to visit other places apart from the Adstract Hotel. This was where we lodged.  It was located on Abacha Road in one of the Government Residential Areas (GRA) in the state. We also had a sight when we went out for the voting orientation to the people in the city along that same Abacha Road.

I left the hotel around 1pm and headed to the Port Harcourt International Airport which is very far from the city. I never knew the airport was as far as that when I was coming to the city on an Aero Contractor bound flight that left Lagos at about 6:30 pm and landed in Port Harcourt by 7:20pm.

The taxi man picked Sola Fagunrosi - a social media columnist with Punch Newspaper, and I. He agreed to collect 5,000 Naira as the cab fare after so much negotiating with another two cab drivers on their series of fluctuating prices. They were charging and requested for 1,000 Naira for air conditioning when Sola asked him if the initial fair included air-conditioning.

After getting to the airport in that sunny afternoon, the next available flight that was heading to Lagos was First Nation Airways. I had never boarded this brand before apart from Arik, Aero Contractor and Dana anytime I was to fly.

At the point of thinking which flight to board to Lagos or to wait for Arik Air that will take off by 5:30pm, one of the First Nation Airways staff approached me and started preaching to me why I have to board their plane.

“First Nation plane is an airbus and not an aircraft like others. It is spacious, faster than other planes and safe to fly”, he said.

I listened to him keenly as he was convincing me to buy the ticket; I eventually went to their stand and bought the ticket.

The lady at the stand urged me to go to security point to check my luggage as passengers have started boarding the plane already.

The scanning machine scanned the bag and detected four Canon batteries in my Camera. I was urged to step aside to bring out the batteries that I cannot travel with them because they were explosive device. For about 15 minutes, I stood at their point pacifying them with different kinds of excuses just to allow me board the plane and not to miss the flight. After noticing that I could not win the context with them, I gave up and gave them the batteries.

Unknowingly to me at the point of checking my luggage, I have forgotten that I did not pick my Lenovo tablet when I was packing other things into the bag. A security woman saw it and asked me if it was my own, I nodded no. I told the woman that it was a guy that was checked after I was being checked that owned it because I saw him holding something that look like that.

I immediate left their point to board the plane and informed one of the cabin crew that somebody has left his tab at the security point. She immediately announced to the passengers but nobody signified as the owner of the tab.

About ten minutes after the plane has taken off, something asked me if that tab was not my own. My mind was troubled with series of questions if that tab was my own or not, I could not tell anybody than to wait until I check my bag when we got to Muritala Muhamed Airport, Lagos.

Immediately we landed, I went to the arrival hall, sat down and checked my bag. Lo and behold that tab was my tab. I quickly went to the First Nation Airline’s stand and reported the incident to them. They were eager to help as they keenly listened to my pathetic story. They gave me their reservation number to call in Port Harcourt.

I called the number on the next day and was glad when the lady at the other end gave me her personal number to call in the next few minutes for her to ask the security people for the forgettable item.

I had the good news that they saw the tab and I was subjected to cycle of questions on the tab to really certify if I was the real owner. After satisfying them with qualities of answers that I gave them about the tablet

, the First Nation lady promised to send it through their next available flight coming Lagos.

Just as she’d promised, I later went to the airport in the afternoon and collected my tab life and direct, packed in a big brown envelop as if the tab was more than that.

I want to deeply thank the management of First Nation Airline; most especially their staff in Port Harcourt and Lagos Airports who helped me recover my tablet.

And I have pledge my allegiance to board First Nation Airline anytime I want to travel within the country and when they start flying international routes.

Thank you very much.