The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE, has condemned the award of scholarship to stowaway teenager, Daniel Oikhena, by the Governor Rauf Aregbesola Foundation.
NAAPE yesterday said it was wrong to make Daniel a hero.
Bunmi Gindeh, the Public Relations Officer of the Association said, NAAPE “seriously frowned at the effort by some people to make a hero out of the stowaway boy by publicly giving reward to a boy that at best fell far short of acceptable behaviour.
“While NAAPE does 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 dis-service.
“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.”
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The Association also blamed both FAAN and Arik Air company for publicly trading blames over the incident, which they said should be their responsibilities.
It would be recalled that on Saturday, August 24, 2013, the 14-year-old-teenage boy successfully beat airport security at the Benin Airport, and hid himself at the tyre compartment of an Arik aircraft on a flight from Benin to Lagos.
Daniel was arrested when he came out of the wheel when the aircraft landed in Lagos.
