Dire State of affairs indeed.

The mob on the wreckage with emergency services looking on.

act of futility

People in Nigeria live as though they were acting out some episode of Final Destination.

You either get killed by an auto-mobile accident, be it on the road or sleeping peacefully at home. When you drive carefully on the road there are fuel tankers careering all over the place because no one bothers to follow road safety rules…not that there are any, church bombings are rampant while worshipping on a quiet Sunday morning, University bombings while trying to study to improve your country, assassinations for daring to raise your voice against corruption, death by inhaling carbon monoxide from generating sets while sleeping due to lack of power supply, even from a policeman paid to protect you who accidentally discharges his weapon while running after a bus to collect 10 Naira from a bus conductor. You could die in a hospital during surgery because the Federal Government has not thought to make it compulsory for Hospitals to have fully functional stand by generating sets as strict policy. 

When you run an airline in Nigeria, you have to give bribes to have your aircraft certified as being air worthy irrespective of whether they are truly air worthy or not. So everyone pays the bribes and send their various aircraft into the skies. Nicely painted with no screws securing the engine and every one holds their breaths and prays for the best. Going and coming. 

Sooner or later disaster does strike and after the first few days of the usual furore and a few days of mourning it starts all over again. The only thing that changes is that the bribes go up. So you would now need more money to pay for bribes, which means you would have to over work every single aircraft you have in other to recoup your money and so that vicious circle keeps getting bigger and the wheels keeps spinning faster.

This past weekend (31/05 to 03/06) saw two bomb blast, two planes crash and armed government forces on a university campus once again in a bid to forcefully change its name. It has been a weekend of total chaos, confusion and death in which over 200 people have lost their lives under very violent circumstances. We are about equalling Syria in body counts, Syria is supposed to be a nation virtually in a state of civil war and we are supposed to be at peace.

Accountability is a word which many people do not really understand. If you are not ready to put your head on the line, you should not be given responsibilities.

Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi an accountant and Business Administrator heads this most vital Ministry of Aviation. It is a Ministry which has seen at least 5 Ministers in the last 7 years. Time and again the Federal Government sees this Ministry as some sort of business deal or some political bargaining chip to play with (you campaign for me and its yours) with absolutely no regard for air safety. No stomach for reform, no stomach for sacrifice. It’s all about the pump and pageantry that goes with the office.  

Princess Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi Minister for Aviation

Sani Sidi Director General NEMA

Instead of secure Cordons soldiers chase people like rats 

Princess Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi with all due respect to her MA in Business Administration has shown no experience or expertise whatsoever with regards to managing an Aviation Industry. Not to talk about an Aviation Industry in a mammoth Nation such as Nigeria. Her main Experience so far has been running a part of President Jonathans' presidential campaign. All we have heard about is scuffles with British Airways about extra payments, no dedication whatsoever in maintaining and following basic rules of safety and simple work ethics. It is being reported that the said Airline was not cleared to fly by a key Engineer. So if the Federal Government is in any way serious about anything we do expect someone to be charged with 173 counts of Murder. Anything less would spell a very sad state of affairs and ultimately spell doom for the Nigerian Aviation industry. The government should be very clear. You play with people’s lives, you get charged with murder. There should be no two ways about it.

As we all know half of the people in key positions in government are actually pacifiers and the fruit of one compromise or another so we do fear the worst. We are shackled with a President who virtually has no power even to sack a janitor in his house simply because he/she is an important plug in a very long line of corrupt dominoes.

As we all fear, it could be business as usual. After all if we charged someone with Murder now, what do we do about the now usual weekly Boko Haram multiple murders. Sometimes I wonder to myself if Nigeria is still a country with a President. It’s all gone south. Maybe it’s some government Policy to reduce the population by death and poverty, or maybe a group of people are playing a bad game of chess somewhere.

Instead of Shouting at the Top of his voice Mourn, Mourn, Mourn people of Nigeria. The first words which should have come out of the Nigerian Presidents mouth right after condolences for the victims and their family members should have been the immediate suspension of The Minister of Aviation, The Director General of NEMA and the immediate detention of Directors at Dana Airlines.

Muhammad Sani Sidi the director general of NEMA, who until his appointment was the commissioner of Culture and Tourism on state level. With little or no experience whatsoever in handling disasters was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan. The real shocker is that he came in to replace a seasoned Air Vice-Marshal. The ruling People’s Democratic Party Listed one of his main experiences as having cleaned up two Local Governments (Zaria and Sabon-Garri) in Kaduna state. They didn’t exactly specify if he swept the floor or picked up rubbish. All the same they took it as some kind of emergency response. Now we find ourselves at his mercy to somehow control and contain with the aid of his many years of EXPERIENCE serious calamities like plane crash and bomb blasts.

God save our souls.