Capt.Toritseju Ogisi

ne time Chief Pilot and Director of Flight Operations in  the liquidated Nigeria Airways,Capt.Toritseju Ogisi has said government is most unfair to the staff and those who retired before the demise of the former national carrier.

Ogisi who made this known in Lagos while speaking with newsmen said that the staff were not responsible for the poor state of the Airline before it was liquidated.

According to him, ninety per cent of the people brought from outside to run the airline knew nothing about the sector. He said their loyalty was to those who gave them the appointment instead of the Airline.

He said Nigeria Airways had always done things right before the corruption and weak  management set in.

In addition, he stated,Nigeria Airways under these set of people was not run purely as a commercial venture,no discipline management, no commitment or obligation to the Airline.

“There is a situation when you are in Kano airspace and will be asked to come back to Lagos drop your passenger and head to a different destination or after  passengers had  fully  boarded would, be asked to come down.”

“Ethiopia is running an airline. It is flourishing.They passed through our circumstances but not debt. Nigeria Airways would have been in the shoes of Ethiopia.The circumstances are not too different if we had management that was discipline and focused.”

Ogisi  said that the money being expected by pensioners has been made useless by hyper inflation.

In his opinion,a tuber of yam that was selling for three hundred Naira before has now jumped to five thousand Naira.

When reminded that the impact of the liquidation has little or no effect on him,said he is part of the casualty of the government decision to end the operations of the Airline.

Ogisi also said that  when he retired in 1988, was not expecting to live on his pension but should be able to enjoy the privileges attached to the staff of his status.

The DC-10 and B747 pilot maintain that if Nigeria Airways was still in existence,would have been supporting him in his health challenges.

“I am diabetic.The money am spending is much even more than what they are going to pay me.The Airline would have benn helping to sort it out for me.All I needed to do just take my walking stick,go there(Nigeria Airways) lay my health complaints.”

“If I want to go on a trip to the United States or United Kingdom at least twice in a year to see my children, I will get  rebate tickets. Can you put value to that? So when you calculate my entitlements, that should be added to it.All of us are in a mess.”

Capt;Ogisi

Asked what is that thing or feeling he missed in Nigeria Airways,he

replied”Nigeria Airways made me fulfil my dreams.It is difficult to

say how much. I  loved working for Nigeria Airways.The thrill,the pride it gave me to land the DC-10 and the B747 in New York.”

One of the things I value was when I was flying the biggest aircraft in the world then,the B747.I was also a training Captain.I was training other pilots on the B747.My other colleague was Capt.All-Well Brown who was also conducting  training for other pilots.”

“Shortly after landing,in New York,the white engineer on ground rushed inside the cockpit to find out who the Captain was.My joy and the black engineers that made that voyage is unforgettable. It is going to live with me in all my life.”