By Pini Jason
“I boarded a Dana Airline on my way back from Abuja. First, the flight was delayed for about two hours. Passengers were frustrated. Thank God I had my laptop with me to do some work whilst waiting at the stuffy departure room. When eventually we boarded I discovered to my great surprise that the plane was a very old one.

Time was 8.40 p.m. Some of the aircraft’s toilet seats had broken. The air-conditioner was not cooling properly. As the plane was taking off some strange noises were heard underneath the aircraft”.

THE above quote was taken from an article titled: Averting Another Plane Disaster, written by Mr. Sonnie Ekwowusi (a former Patito Gangster) and published on page 16 of Thisday newspaper on Wednesday 30 May 2012, just four days before the Dana Air crash in Lagos on Sunday 3 June 2012. On Monday 4 June while waiting for our flights to Abuja, my friend Rear-Admiral Frank Akpan and I were discussing how prophetic the article was. Frank kept insisting that those in charge of our affairs do not read; the same point my late friend, Salihijo Ahmad used to make. Okay, if our leaders do not read, can it be said that it is only the troublesome opinion writers who experience these visible signs that things are going wrong?

On 27 March 2012, in an article titled, Hard to Survive, Easy to Die published in this column, I lamented: “Today in Nigeria, living is a tough task. Living conditions are very hard for the people.

But to die has become very easy”. Just look at that very fateful weekend; multiple crash, the second in a week, on the Lagos Ibadan Expressway took over 25 lives; Terrorist attack in Bauchi claimed 20 lives, another in Maiduguri took another 16 lives; Yoruba-Hausa clash in Lagos claimed 13 lives; collapsed buildings in Awka claimed 5 lives; and the Dana plane crash took 153 on board and yet unknown number of lives at destroyed homes at the crash site.

Black clothes all year round

Death seems to be stalking Nigeria. If we were to wear mourning clothes for every tragedy, we would be wearing black cloths all year round; if we were to fly our flag at half mast at every disaster, our flag would be perpetually at half mast. Look at it this way: you say to avoid dying you won’t fly and you take to the road, but you are roasted on the road.

You say you won’t go anywhere at all, and you stay at home, but a plane comes crashing through your roof or the building collapses and kills you! You say, okay, you go and pray to God to avert these tragedies, and terrorists bomb the church and kill you! So where then is safe in this country?

The lesson is that if we can so peremptorily lose our life, then nothing else in this life is so important that we cannot lose it. Before the crash, the nation was convulsed by a querulous cry over the University of Lagos name change for the quaint reason that people refused to part with the romantic name UNILAG! It was as if the name UNILAG was the most important thing to lose in life. Then all of a sudden, something more important than brand name was lost and the nation flipped a page over the noise. The Dana crash even took the shine off the 153rd anniversary of our beloved CMS Grammar School!

A crisis like this often spawns a polyglot of pseudo-experts. And ever before an investigation, all manner of reasons were adduced why the plane crashed. Some of the more ridiculous went viral as usual in the internet. Such unfounded and embarrassing claims disseminated as truth only confuse matters the more. Air crash is a serious national tragedy that usually spreads bereavement nationwide and did not need ridiculous outbursts from people ill-informed on the matter.

Airlines and security issues

The tragedy once more highlighted how perfunctory organisations in Nigeria can be. It is a trauma for the bereaved relations of the crash victims. It is no less a trauma for the living and their family when names of living relations are added to those of the crash victims. Miss Obianuju Erokwu was saved from the ill-fated plane by internet glitch. She wanted to buy ticket online but could not complete the process. Maj-Gen Tahir Umar bought ticket but changed his plans and did not travel.

This means that the two would-be passengers were never checked into that flight. How then, did their names appear in the flight manifest? Or did the airline simply print out the names of all those who bought tickets for that flight? Who was responsible for this grave error?

What action is being taken against the culprit? Many may regard this error as “small matter” and we move on. But if we cannot be accurate about who boards a flight in these days of terrorism, what other security matter can we entrust on the airline?

The issue of demanding photo identity before boarding passengers is still perfunctorily done. Access to restricted areas of the airport, especially where the planes are parked is much easier than entering a motor park! Screening of luggage in many airports is still manual giving the shameless FAAN officials opportunity to beg for some of your under wears!

Flying, we must realise, is the most abnormal way to travel because we were not created to fly. However science and technology has given us wings to fly.

Unfortunately, we take too much for granted. In the United States, whenever a plane touches down the cabin erupts into loud cheers by passengers. Some even pop sparkling wine. The reason is that they know that it was NOT guaranteed that flight would land safely despite all the rigorous precautions they take out there.

You are travelling at an abnormal speed (the Concord travelled above the speed of sound!), you are carrying a highly combustible fuel in a plane made of fibre glass. And once up, there is no parking to investigate the cause of an unusual noise!

With all these in mind, there is a compelling need for airline operators and passengers to observe to the last letter all the rules and instructions necessary for a safe flight. Unfortunately, Nigerians still take as an inconvenience the instruction to switch off all electronic devices and stow their hand luggage properly during flights. Senator Babajide Omoworare, representing Osun East in the National Assembly last week called on the Federal Government to “find a lasting solution to plane crashes” (Daily Sun 7 June 2012, page 10).

Unfortunately, we can only reduce the occurrence of air crashes to minimum, but there is no guaranteed “lasting solution” to accidents. All that we can do is to see to it that operators in the sector do not compromise safety by cutting corners. This idea of some airlines flying to all and every airport has a tendency to overstretch an airline. That is when cutting corners begin. Aviation no doubt is capital intensive and has no place for ego trip. This is the time to consider consolidation in the aviation industry.

President Jonathan has vowed to punish those found culpable in this tragedy. He must ensure that this is not yet one of such many emotional statements usually made on the spur of the moment when indeed government did not know what else to say. He should back his words with action and enforce the laws of the land. That was the point I was making here last week!

 Today is June 12, the authentic Democracy Day!

EXACTLY 19 years ago, Nigerians united as one to break ranks with the politicians who used all manner of primordial tendencies to hold us down. Nigerians from all parts of this country saw through the lies of the military junta reluctant to relinquish power and liberated themselves from the shackles of ethnicity and religion.

They voted overwhelmingly for Chief MKO Abiola as president on 12 June 1993 in an election still adjudged as the freest and the fairest in the history of this country. The only other time Nigerians voted so massively for a presidential candidate was during the 2011 election of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. But what made Abiola’s election historically remarkable was that Nigerians defied all odds and voted for a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of Abiola and Babagana Kingibe in a country where politicians exploited religion.

Unfortunately, a military junta that did not know that time had run out on it decided to annul the election. On 23 June 1993, we were checking out of Carlton Hotel in Sandton area of Johannesburg, South Africa, on our way to Cape Town and Durban when news reached us that the military had ordered a halt to the announcement of the election results.

The white South African lady checking us out said to us: “Your country helped us so much to get democracy but now the military says you can’t have democracy. It’s a pity!” It was then that the irony of the development back home dawned on me.

We can only speculate that perhaps, had Abiola become president the trajectory of the country would have been different from what it is today. Abiola did not chicken out as many would have done confronted by armed soldiers. But he claimed his mandate by taking his oath of office at Epetedo area of Lagos Island, flanked by late Bobo Nwosisi and Chief Ralph Obioha.

Many thought that what happened at Epetedo was a fluke. But I believe Gen. Abacha was eminently aware that there were two claimants to the presidency, one in detention and the other with arms!

Many dignitaries-controversial African American Islamic cleric, Louis Farrakhan, UN Secretary General, Koffi Annan, Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Obas and Emirs-were sent to talk Abiola out of his mandate but he stood firm.

When Abiola was detained, many people mocked him, that when he began to miss the material comfort and company of beautiful women provided him by his billions, he would quickly recant. What such people did not know was that the Abiola they knew as a sybarite was different from the Abiola in detention!

The Abiola in detention was only known to those of us in the Council of Unity and Understanding, CUU and National Democratic Coalition, NADECO! His wife Kudirat was assassinated yet he did not renounce his mandate. He was eventually killed in detention. He remains the true hero of our democracy and 12 June the authentic Democracy Day!