British Airways sacks stewardess for racist rant against Nigerian passengers

British Airways has sacked a stewardess who posted a racist Snapchat rant attacking Nigerian passengers.

MailOnline reports that the lady, who had been identified as Joanne Wickenden, got the sack after a two-hour meeting with her bosses.

Wickenden sparked outrage after recording the racist clip in her BA uniform before flying from London Heathrow to Abuja on Friday.

In a statement on Tuesday, the airline said, “She no longer works for British Airways. We expect the utmost professionalism from our staff when they are representing British Airways.”

The 23-year-old, who wants to be an actress, told friends, “I am not a racist,” and claimed the sickening video was “just a joke.”

She told MailOnline, “I have been set up by another BA employee. They were encouraging me, egging me on to say things. They were recording me and sent it around to our friends.

“I don’t want to fly anymore.’

A friend said the unnamed employee wanted Wickenden to “impersonate what goes on on the flight.”

A source told MailOnline that the video – which was captioned, ‘I can’t cope with this flight’ – was circulated among BA cabin crew.

Another shocked staff member said BA should apologise to its Nigerian passengers.

READ ALSO: Single for two years, I miss male company, rude British Airways stewardess confesses

In the expletive-filled footage, Wickenden had said, “All Nigerians are going to be asking for f****** upgrades.”

“Alright, so all of yous are there getting ready for your Friday night, getting in the pre-drinks, you know, as you do.

“And I’m here, getting ready to go to work, put on a yellow life jacket, point out the exits, hand out chicken or beef; what sort of Friday night is this for me?

“The upside is I’m going to Nigeria and there’s gonna be bare B**, I’m joking, I’m joking.

“All the Nigerians are gonna be there like ‘gimme Coca-Cola, gimme me beef, why you have no beef left? I want beef.

“And I’m just gonna be there like, ‘Sorry sir, we ran out of beef.

“All the Nigerians are gonna be there asking for f****** upgrades because they haven’t got enough leg room because their B**s are in their way. Big d**** like this swinging from side to side.”

An airline source told MailOnline; “My friend was horrified. BA has a culture of dealing with things like this internally; she passed it to me because she was concerned that nothing was done.”

Also reacting to rant, which was reported by PUNCH Metro on Tuesday, the British Airways Regional Commercial Manager, West Africa, Kola Olayinka, confirmed the sack of the stewardess.

A statement from Olayinka read in part, “I can confirm that BA has finalised investigations into alleged video posted by one of our cabin crew and I can confirm that the person in question no longer works for BA effective today (Tuesday).

“We expect the utmost professionalism from our staff when they are representing British Airways.

“We will not tolerate offensive comments about our customers anywhere in the world, and will always take the appropriate action.”

Oil prices hit $57 as OPEC meets

Posted By: Our Reporter On: September 22, 2017 In: Featured, News, News Update

Oil prices were largely up yesterday as traders waited to see whether oil- producing countries set to meet in Vienna, Austria would extend production limits to reduce the global crude glut.

The brent crude was trading at $56.29 dollars a barrel. U.S. crude was 50.64 dollars.

Ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other producers will meet in Vienna today to consider extending an agreement to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd).

Many analysts expected them to extend the current deal that will last till March, but many also said prices at current levels could encourage some countries to boost production.

The OPEC and non-OPEC nations meeting will discuss a possible extension of an oil supply cut deal to support prices and will consider monitoring exports to assess compliance.

The organisation aims to clear a global oil supply glut by curbing output by about 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd). Russia and other non-OPEC producers agreed to cut half as much. The pact runs to the end of March.

Ministers on a panel monitoring the deal, which comprises Kuwait, Venezuela and Algeria, plus non-OPEC producers Russia and Oman, are scheduled to meet at 0800 GMT on Friday in Vienna.

Oil prices have gained more than 15 percent in the past three months to trade above $56 a barrel, suggesting the deal is making progress in getting rid of excess supply. But oil is still half the level it was in mid-2014.

Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouq said on Thursday compliance with output cuts was improving and was above 100 percent. “It is very good, better than last month,” the minister told reporters after arriving in Vienna.

A technical committee of OPEC and non-OPEC states that met on Wednesday said compliance in August was 116 percent of their pledged oil output cuts, three sources said. That is up from 94 percent in July.

Algeria’s Energy Minister Mustapha Guitouni said on Wednesday OPEC would discuss extending the deal with non-OPEC producers. He did not comment on arrival in Vienna on

Senators’ pay: SERAP accuses Saraki of cover-up
SERAP Unhappy with Saraki

Human rights group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), is unhappy with Senate president, Bukola Saraki, for allegedly dodging specific questions on the take home pay of senators.

Representatives of the group met with Saraki on Thursday to discuss issues relating to details of the annual salaries and allowances of lawmakers.

However, SERAP deputy director, Timothy Adewale, giving an insight on the meeting on Friday, said the discussion “raises more questions than it answers.”

Adewale, in a statement said “while SERAP appreciated “the expressed commitment by Saraki to transparency and accountability of the National Assembly, and the rare opportunity to dialogue with him, we remain deeply concerned that the leadership of the Senate has unfortunately not satisfactorily addressed the damaging allegations by Prof. Itse Sagay, Chairman Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), that a Nigerian Senator gets N29 million in monthly pay, and over N3 billion a year.”

He alleged an apparent discrepancy in some areas “between what Saraki said at the meeting and what the Senate is doing in practice to improve transparency of its operations and accountability of members.”

Going into the specifics of the meeting, Adewale said: “For example, the Senate president’s response to Sagay’s allegations was simply to refer SERAP to the National Assembly budget for 2017, which is available on its website. However, a careful study of the document shows that it contains only some general information and not specific details that respond directly to allegations raised by Sagay.

“The meeting with Saraki raises more questions than it answers. The Senate budget on its website is incomplete. The absence of specific details on salaries and allowances of each senator not only makes analysis difficult, it also points to underlying weaknesses in monitoring and transparency mechanisms.”

“Without including some level of details, Nigerians may see the published National Assembly budget as nothing more than window-dressing. SERAP hopes that the leadership of the Senate doesn’t want this to be the case and we certainly see no reason why it should be the case. As we have noted, improved transparency on the exact salaries and allowances of senators and indeed members of the House of Representatives is in the interests of all.

“In SERAP’s view, rather than referring us to the seemingly incomplete National Assembly budget, the Senate president should have provided a line-by-line response to Sagay’s allegations. It is important that the leadership of the Senate provides additional information that is lacking from the published budget if it is ever going to satisfactorily clear the air on the issues.”

ASUU : Varsities to get N220bn within one month

University lecturers are close to calling off their one-month-old ASUU strike after reaching a fresh agreement with the Federal Government on their demands.

 Top of the agreement  reached at a 15-hour meeting that ended early yesterday in Abuja,is the immediate release,by government, of N220 billion to the universities to fund the revitalization of federal universities in the country.

The sum is expected to be paid not later than next month.

The money is to enable the institutions buy working tools needed for effective discharge of their responsibilities.

 Representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)  are scheduled to present details of the agreement to the National Executive Council of the union within the next one week for ratification, and possible calling off of the strike.

 Besides, government at the   conciliatory meeting, coordinated by Labour and Employment Minister,Chris Ngige, agreed to commence the immediate payment of the salary shortfall to the lecturers.

Ngige told reporters at the end of the meeting that government had also commenced the payment of the earned allowances of members of the union.

He said the meeting also discussed how to set up the National Universities Pension Management Company as well as the issue of university staff schools and the Treasury Single Account.

 His words: “We also discussed the issue of university staff schools and treasury single account with a view to finding how the system could accommodate funds for research grants that need to be independent of the government. We also discussed the issue of how the Federal Government could be involved in the running of state universities.”

He said the meeting agreed to set up a seven-man committee on the implementation of the proposals.

The union and the federal ministry of education will each be represented by three persons on the committee, while government will be represented by one person who will serve as chairman.

Continuing, Ngige said:  ”There’s the fund for revitalization of public universities and the issue of Earned Academic Allowances; the issue of University Staff Schools on which there is a court judgment; the issue of National Universities Pension Management Company; and the issue of salary shortfalls for lecturers and staff of universities. There is the issue of TSA exemption and the problems in the state universities. All are the issues that ASUU felt that government should address.

“Most of these issues stemmed from the 2009 agreement that government had with ASUU and also from the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding that the government had with ASUU. Government is a continuum. Most of those issues were not issues that cropped up from the Buhari administration, we inherited them.

“But be that as it may, we are to ready to address those issues.

“But ASUU has to take back this our proposal to their organs, so we decided that there’s an agreement for government to make some funds available in September and October to show that they are not repudiating their agreement and to also show sign of good faith.

“On the issue of Earned Academic Allowances, we have listened and payment has started in that direction and the same with staff schools. Government is though not appealing, we have agreed that the decision should be conveyed to the various universities.

“The Issue of NUPENCO was addressed and ways have been fashioned out for the registration of that company. Salary shortfalls for lecturers and university staff were also addressed and government has shown their commitment and evidence that payments have started in order to liquidate the outstanding allowances.

“The issue of TSA exemption was also discussed and an agreement or proposal was muted by which the Central Bank would open a special account.

  ”State universities which have been the concern for ASUU and everybody who has been looking for quality education in the country was also discussed and the Minister of Education was mandated to take the memo to the council of state and the Federal Executive Council.

“Based on these discussions, ASUU leadership will consult with its organs and revert back to government within one week. They will consult with their organs with a view to calling off the strike. And we expect them that within one week, they will get back to government. These are the highlights of the meeting and I can tell you that the meeting took place in very cordial atmosphere.”

Also speaking, ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said the proposals made by government were concrete but said the ASUU team would take the offers back to their colleagues  for consideration within the next one week, and the position of the members would be communicated to government.

He said: “We have had useful deliberations and we had some concrete proposals that we will take back to our members as part of our consultations.

“And like the Honourable Minister of Labour has said, we plan to come back here to take decisions as advised by our members.”

Also at the marathon meeting were the President of the Nigeria Labour Comgress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang.

ASUU embarked on the strike on August 13, following government’s failure to implement the agreement reached with the union in November 2016.

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