PANA
Lagos, Nigeria – Nigeria’s National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has warned against any attempt to make a hero out of the teenager boy who stowed away on a local flight from the southern city of Benin to the economic capital city of Lagos 24 Aug.
NAAPE said in a statement issued here late Monday that publicly rewarding a boy that committed an infraction at best falls short of acceptable behaviour.
Daniel Ohikhena flew in the wheel well of an Arik Air flight to Lagos.
He was taken into custody by security agencies on arrival in Lagos, and was later released and handed over to the government of his native Edo State in southern Nigeria.
The state government has since promised to give him the best education, while a group has offered him scholarship up to university level.
The statement said while NAAPE did not want to stand in the way of anyone’s fortune, ”we consider that in this particular case, making such gesture public gives an erroneous impression which makes it a disservice.”
”We fear that such public gesture, even in the name of charity, will only encourage other kids, and even adults, to embark on similar misadventure,” it said.
