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| The Crashed Dana Airplane |
By Nelson Ekujumi
Following the air crash involving
Dana Airline Boeing McDonnell 83 in Iju Ishaga Lagos on June 3rd
2012 which resulted in the death of over 170 precious innocent lives and
inestimable value in destroyed properties coupled with the traumatic agony that
the families and friends of the bereaved as well as Nigerians and the rest of
humanity were thrown into by this unfortunate accident, the Nigerian government
in hearkening to civilized conduct and reasoning promptly suspended the
operating license of the airline pending the outcome of investigation into the
cause of the accident which was commendable.
Immediately after the crash, a lot
of theories and reasons were advanced for the cause of the crash, chief of
which was that lots of blame were heaped on the airline regulatory authorities
because of the fact that previous air crashes report were not made public and
which was fuelled by the suspicion that they were covering up their
deficiencies which had always resulted in air crashes that have consumed lives
and properties repeatedly. It even became public knowledge though unconfirmed
officially that the Dana Airline in question had engine problem during its
flight to Calabar and that it was supposed to have been brought back to Lagos
for check up without picking up passengers but as in the character of
inconsiderate capitalists, the management decided to pick up passengers enroute
Abuja to Lagos which resulted in the crash in which lives were lost and
properties destroyed.
While all these stories or rumours
as one may call it were going round due to poor information management by the
authorities, the management of Dana Airline put up spirited defense to puncture
the arguments about the poor state of its airlines which were alleged to have
been too old and couldn’t be in the skies in any country but only in Nigeria
where anything goes. Lots of reasons were adduced for frequent air crashes in
Nigeria of which we were absorbing all of this with the high expectation that
the result of this investigation would be the turning point in making public
this report and the reports of previous crashes with a view to preventing a
reoccurrence if indeed we are serious as a people.
While Nigerians and the rest of the
world were still expecting the report of the cause of the latest air crash as
well as previous ones, we were all taken aback by the sudden restoration of the
license of Dana Airline by the ministry of aviation on Wednesday 5th
September 2012 without the crash report and with explanations that defies
reasoning and logic. The whole world and indeed Nigerians had their hopes
raised that at last we have a democratic government which had made so much
noise that it was willing to take the bull by the horn to get to the root of
air crashes in the country and even insinuating that reports of previous
crashes would be made public until this latest insensitive decision.
Once again the Nigerian government
has behaved true to type with its policies which are always indicative of
putting the cart before the horse like this latest one. This government has
continuously embarrassed itself with policy decisions that are not reflective
with reality on ground. This government is used to committing what is called
unforced error in lawn tennis that is embarrassing to us as Nigerians in the
comity of civilized people. One has lost count of the number of times this
error has been committed but can recall that the government committed this type
of error with the removal of fuel subsidy issue as well as the attempted the
name change of UNILAG and we were all living witness to the embarrassment
engendered by those actions and now this latest one. Is it that unlike the rest
of us, the Nigerian government is deaf and dumb to the lessons of history?
The question bothering yours
sincerely like other Nigerians is, was it not this same government in its
preliminary report which stated that the aircraft lost its two engines and now
its saying its audit report on the airline was satisfactory? For an aircraft to
lose two engines at a go speaks volume of the worthiness of such a machine and
one doesn’t need to be an engineer to know this fact. These are some of the
questions bothering many right thinking minds.
The Nigerian government ought to be
aware that this latest action of it has further confirmed its insensitivity and
I don’t care feelings for the bereaved, their families, friends and the rest of
humanity. Yet, this same government would come up and be protesting the
indecent treatment meted to Nigerians outside our shores as if outsiders don’t
see that here at home the lives of Nigerians don’t matter to the authorities so
long as the economic interest of the business partners of the government is
buttered.
One can only hope that the rest of
us will continue to agitate for the report of the crash to be made public just
like previous ones to save our country from needless waste of human lives and
properties, until that is done we should hold the Nigerian government
responsible for any further air crash.
(Ekujumi
is the Executive Chairman,
Committee
for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM)
26A
Adesina Street , Ikeja, Lagos .
08023172694,
07033853232)
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