St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1958-12-12
BRIEF GLIMPSES
OF NIGERIA, 1885

where, the plane has become tn
approved form Of passenger trans
portation--one wonders how tn
local gentry got about before tn
advent Of planes.
There are trains, Of course
primarily for freight, but they d,
a tremendous business passenger
wise. There are few experience,
like a train ride in Nigeria, es
pecially on a high-class express
Engineers, firemen, conductors anC
many skilled worlmen in tht
shops are Africans; but the super,
vision is European.
The cars are gaily-colored on the
Kaduna express. There are three
classes Of travel-first, second and
third. Whole families make up the
bulk Of passengers travelling third,
class, and everything is in a gen
eral state of disarray. At the end
of each car is a huge stove, and
the women can be found cooking
away, amid conversation and
shrieks Of laughter
Second class Is less crowded and
more sedate, although the hard
seats in all cars make trabel a bit
wearying.
Train Travel Two Years Ago
A couple Of years ago, a dense
fog at Ibadan prevented me from
a plane connection from
there to Kaduna. The plane circled
the field but did not land, 80 !
had to take the Kaduna Express.
BY plane, the trip would have TAX
en- 51a hours; the train, with its
stops and heavy lead,
took exactly "a hours.
In first class train travel, one
occupies compartments" / shared
one with two British officers in
service, and a young Leb-
lnese trader who was born in and
therefore is a citizen Of Nigeria.
There was a toilet in the car,
which made me wonder what fac
lities there were in the third class
In addition, there was a
dining room at one end of the car
rom which excellent meals were
served. The door to the car, how
ever, was locked so passengers
rom other classes could not enter.
The EELr of norin, an inter
sstingly-turbanned, so year old
,hieftan-who has the power of life
and death over his subjects, so ]
was in one Of the COM
1artments. I talked with him
through an interpreter. Among
he things he said was that he was
rot interested in the then-growing
for independence. Ac-
,ording to the Emir, his people
are not yet ready for It,"
More About Plane Service
Internal plane service in Nj
yeria now is operated by the Nj
yerian airways. Two years ago.
here was the West African air
ways, owned jointly by the gov
srnments of Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra
Leone and the Gambia. II was an
migrated service and most effic-
ent.
When Ghana achieved independ-
snce, she decided TO have her own
plane system. This broke up the
Ioint operation and now there are
tour systems, one owned by each
Of the four governments, This
toward individual owner
ship also brought a decline in the
services-eNcept that
one may fly a Ghana plane from
Aecra to Lagos, in Nigeria. serv-
Ice too suffered-not quite as fire.
luent or regular as formerly.
But the pilots and engineers are
exceptionally good, being former
British pilots during the World
War. There are colored station
in natty white suits and
African employ ee.s
There are about a dozen African
serving on the line,
and II Is a pleasure to be waited
upon by them. There was a colored
pilot. but he disappeared on a
flight from Lagos to Calabar.
The planes normally fly along
the COAST presume this is be-
cause the shore line serves as a
guide. About three months ago,
this colored pilot, while on a rou-
tine flight with two other Always
personnel. ran into a squall From
what officials could deduce, he
attempted to fly under it and
crashed into the sea, offshore. No
trace OF the three nor the plane
was ever found.
Nigeria now has flying school
to train its own pilots.
In flying to badan, Enugu,
Kandua and Kanee, passengers
frequently find themselves doub-
ling back over routes they have
lust travelled. Thai is because of
the frequency Of schedule changes,
However, the planes really serve a
vital purpose, Some Nigeria Of
fieials have criticized Ghana for
withdrawing from the four-country
servee-whieh also stopped at Ii
IBERIA. but Ghana wanted its own