Tasew spoke against the backdrop of the recent reports
alleging maltreatment of Nigerians by Ethiopian police and immigration
officials.
While denying the allegations that Nigerians travelling
through the Bole airport hub are maltreated unjustly and subjected to unfair
police and immigration detention, he pointed out that only passengers who fail
to comply with the required international security standards are delayed or
sometimes detained for normal police and immigration processes.
The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said over 270
Nigerian are serving various prison terms in Ethiopia, adding most were
imprisoned for drug-related offences.
The MFA was reacting to a recent viral video by one Dr. Paul
Ezike, making the rounds on social media on the alleged plight of Nigerian
inmates in the Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia.
However, the Ethiopian Airlines GCEO, in an interview with
journalists in Addis Ababa last week, said efforts were being made by the
carrier to address the issue.
This he said led to a recent meeting with the ambassadors of
some eight African countries in Addis Ababa.
Tasew said, “We had to call about eight ambassadors from
West Africa to my office. They were kindly willing to come-Nigeria, Togo,
Senegal, Ghana. So, they expressed their concern. So, we are discussing this.
It is unfortunate, we don’t want any passenger to be inconvenienced as they
pass through Addis Ababa airport, but some of these things are beyond our
control. So that is the case. Otherwise we don’t want anyone to be
inconvenienced.”
Lamenting the situation further, the Africa largest carrier
boss said its findings had shown that some passengers transiting through the
Bole airport hub often were carrying beyond the required amount of dollars or
precious metals allowed by the Ethiopian government laws.
He observed that the failure to declare such huge amount to
the Customs officials at the point of entry often had led to the arrest and
detention of such passengers.
Tasew however noted that plans were on by the government of
Ethiopia and Nigeria to resolve the matter through diplomatic channels.
He said, “Some passengers are found carrying drugs. If they
are found carrying drugs, definitely they are not allowed to continue their
flight. The security people will take them under custody. If they are found
carrying weapons without permission, they do the same thing until they
investigate and see that it is an approved weapon and so on. So, some
passengers, when they are found to be non-compliant, they can go under the
custody of police. The second problem that we witness is that some people carry
a lot of money on paper, a lot of dollars, or valuables like gold in large size
or dollars for example in tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, sometimes
even millions; over a million dollars are carried in their bags.”
The African carrier GCEO said such passengers might probably
not have incurred the wrath of the Ethiopian government if they were not
passing perhaps a day in the country during their flight.
He said, “If they are transiting without coming to Addis,
the security people don’t touch them. They can carry the money because it’s
their money, they are not coming to the country. However, for some reason if
they want to pass a day or a night to get their connection and they have to
come out to the hotel, the national regulation says that all passengers
carrying over $10, 000 or its equivalent or in gold or other normal ornament, have to declare it
at the Customs section on arrival. You have to tell them that ‘I am carrying
$30,000.’ They may ask you, ‘where is
it’? You can take it out from your bag and show them. You are then asked to
sign on a piece of paper they will give you. And the next morning when you are going
out, as you pass through the X-ray, the Custom officials are there. If they see
it and ask you whether you have a permit to carry the money, you then show that
paper and nothing will happen. You are free to carry out your money, even if it
is $1m. All they are asking you to do is to declare it.
He added, “If you don’t declare, then the government assumes
some Ethiopians had met with you in order to take such hard currencies out of
the country. So, the government assumes that if you didn’t declare it when you
were coming in, then it means it’s not your money; somebody in the city has
given you the money, so it is illegal to take out the money. The government
confiscates the money. This is another problem that we have. So, to protect
them from doing this, you may have heard that before the flight arrives, the
cabin crew announce to all our esteemed passengers to declare to Customs if
they are carrying more than $10,000.”