Dana Air crash and allied matters

CHUKS OLUIGBO

One thing the Dana Air crash on June 3 brought to the fore is the failure of the Nigerian system. As someone rightly said, it was not only Dana that crashed; it was the entire Nigerian structure. But in spite of this completely broken down structure; in spite of dilapidated – and, in many cases, non-existent – infrastructure in many parts of the country; in spite of housing deficit running in the neighbourhood of 16-17 million; in spite of putrefying corruption in every department of the establishment; and in spite of abject, absolute poverty of the greater majority in the midst of plenty all over the land, you still hear the nation’s leaders waxing lyrical about Nigeria being the greatest nation in black Africa, about the economy being the third fastest growing in the world, and about a phantom dream of being among the top twenty most developed economies in the world in 2020. It's funny really – and sometimes, it draws tears from my eyes.

Indeed, each time government speaks on any national issue with those tongue-in-cheek blandishments, each time a member of the federal executive council comes up with those bamboozling rhetoric, it makes me think that either our leaders are taking all of us for fools, or they simply can’t see beyond their nose. Take the issue of Boko Haram. Since the attacks began, the presidency has continued to mouth the same promises, mantra-like – “We’re on top of the situation”, “We’ll fish them out”, “We’ll get to the bottom of the matter”, “We’re battle-ready”, etc – reminiscent of the Nigerian Police vowing to get the killers of Bola Ige and bring them to book.

Unfortunately, everything now follows a routine that even children in the kindergarten can predict it: An attack occurs somewhere in the north; the president comes out to condemn the attack; next he visits the surviving victims in the hospital; next he condoles with the families of those who lost their lives; and then he vows to fish out the perpetrators. Then we all go to sleep and wake up the next morning to hear of another attack in Kano or Kaduna or Bauchi. The president comes out again to perform his regular ritual, and the story continues.... That’s why I agreed with a friend who once asked: “Everyday the president vows, the president pledges, the president promises – pray, when will the president act?”

While one must concede that there has been relative relief from the BH attacks in the last one month to the last attack in Bauchi on June 2, it is pertinent, however, to remind the president that Nigerians have not forgotten his promise that Boko Haram would end in June. Or, will it also be consigned to the incinerator alongside numerous other previous promises? June is here, and we are counting.

One other thing, our government seems to have a penchant for circumventing issues instead of tackling problems head-on. It reminds me of a certain mad man who once said that the solution to Nigeria’s problems was to rewrite the National Anthem and change the design of the flag. Solution indeed! But, truly, successive governments have not thought any differently. Case study: Sometime not too long ago, it was in the news that President Jonathan was urging the National Assembly to enact stiffer laws and recommend stiffer punishments against examination malpractice and cultism in schools. I thought about it and I said: Why will you make a new legislation? I know there is an existing law on exam malpractice, and I also know that I’m yet to hear of anybody who has been prosecuted or jailed for exam malpractice since that law was enacted. So, why not first ask why nobody has been brought to book on the basis of the existing law? That would have led us to the key issue of enforcement, which analysts agree is the matter, and not the non-existence of laws. But someone up there thinks the problem is with the existing law and so recommends its amendment. Maybe when amended, the new law will implement itself. Who am I to argue?

Now Dana Air has crashed, killing 153 people on board, plus numerous other innocent people into whose residence the ill-fated aircraft crashed. First, it was disappointing that at the time of the incident, no television station in the country bothered to air it, giving room for speculations and panic messages in the social media platforms. When I raised the issue, I was told that the stations were only obeying the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) regulation. Well, for whatever reasons, showing cartoons or a football match or any other programme at such a time when the nation was in panic and sorrow smacked of insensitivity. Perhaps it is time to review the NBC regulation.

Following the crash, a number of things have happened. One, the Federal Government in its usual reactionary manner seems to have woken up from slumber and now considers it wise to probe into the activities of the regulatory agencies and airlines operating in the industry. It has also ordered thorough investigation into the cause of the air mishap and has vowed, as usual, that all those found culpable would be made to face the music. We still await action on the various reports already submitted on other issues since the inception of this administration and for which the president made similar pledges. The government, which has issued more condolences than any other message in the last one year, has also condoled with the families who lost loved ones in the crash.

Two, people in relevant quarters whose tongues were tied by corruption before the accident are now speaking up, but it’s all like flogging a dead horse. The dead are dead and gone. No amount of probes, revelations and sanctions in this world can wipe the tears of the bereaved.

And now to the counterfactuals: What if the accident hadn’t happened? The government wouldn’t have looked into what the regulators are doing; the regulators would have continued to neglect their oversight functions on the airlines; airline operators would have continued to overlook safety and aircraft maintenance issues; the tongues tied by corruption would have remained tied; and airliners like Dana would have continued to fly caskets in the name airplanes; and the tragedy, when it would have occurred, would have been graver than what we saw on June 3. God forbid! So, the accident was a big lesson and an eye-opener after all, though it came at a great cost – loss of precious lives that would have been saved if the right people had done the right things at the right time.   

Finally, as I watched “former” Reuben Abati of the fiery pen standing beside his boss, the president, at the crash site, probably crafting the presidential condolence message in his mind, I imagined how many articles he would have churned out from this singular incident and the kind of adjectives he would have used to qualify the crass negligence of duty that led to this avoidable tragedy; that is, if it were still in those days when “economic strife and gain” had not beclouded “the fine things of the mind”, to use the words of the great philosopher Will Durant. But that too is one of those sad realities of the Nigerian situation. May the souls of the dead rest in peace!