Nigerian returnees and Liberian refugees from war-torn Liberia identify their belongings on June 20, 2003, at the National Youth Service Corps camp in Lagos.
Under many titles, the ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags are popular across Africa.
Ethiopian Airlines has banned the infamously dubbed “Ghana Must Go” luggage from its flights in Nigeria.
When hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of whom were Ghanaians, were expelled from Nigeria in the 1980s, the bags earned the moniker.
People ran, carrying the red-and-blue checked luggage.
According to the airline, the omnipresent carriers, which are popular among merchants, might now negatively impact airport equipment.
Ethiopia Airlines stated in a statement that the prohibition was implemented due to “the frequent occurrence of damages to the conveyor belts at various airports, resulting in significant costs incurred by the airlines involved.”
There is an exception. The bags could be used if they were “adequately packed in a carton or hardcover rectangular container”.
Ethiopia Airlines operates several domestic and regional routes out of Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos.
The bags are very popular across Africa, and much of the rest of the world, and can be seen in many airports.
They also go by different names. In Kenya, for example, they are known as Nigeria bags, and Zimbabweans call them Botswana bags.
In 2017 KLM and Air France, imposed a ban because they said the bags could unravel and clog up baggage delivery systems.
