NIGERIA is still in mourning mood over the avoidable, untimely demise of young Dr Vwaere Diaso, a medical intern at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island last week.

The lady doctor, who had only two weeks to the end of her housemanship programme, fell to her painful death in a faulty elevator. According to reports, the lift, which was installed in a ten-story high-rise, had been faulty for about three years, and the relevant authorities ignored distress complaints by its users.

Eye witnesses narrated she was on her way to collect food delivery from a dispatch rider when the tragedy took place on Tuesday last week. More pathetic was that help could not reach the badly injured lady until 40 minutes later. Emergency measures could not be administered and there was no blood in the hospital.

This avoidable tragedy triggered industrial actions within the medical community and mourning in the wider society. A young doctor looking forward to exciting prospects after years of tedious training was terminated at the doorpost of her celebration.

In the usual manner of closing the stable door after the horse escaped, the Lagos State Government set up a committee to unravel the tragedy, particularly the roles played by the relevant authorities in the neglect of the faulty lift, vowing to sanction all who failed in their duties. Because a simple maintenance action was neglected, it led to the tragic end of a young doctor. Government is being forced to spend scarce public resources to attend to its messy aftermath.

Since independence, Nigeria has been known as a country which lacks maintenance culture. This is observable in all aspects of our lives, but much more so in the public sector. 

Most highly placed Nigerians once lived abroad and are exposed to the meticulous ways that facilities are maintained in civilised climes.

But once they come home, they jettison this wise practice due mainly to corruption, incompetence and callous attitudes. Nigerians are only interested in awarding or winning contracts to build with very little thought given to maintenance and provision of security of these facilities.

It is very common for criminals to vandalise facilities such as railway tracks, bridge fittings and power infrastructure because no one cares about the maintenance and security of our public infrastructure.

Dr Vwaere Diaso is gone, unfortunately. There is nothing anyone can do about that. But those whose acts of omission led to her untimely end must be made to feel the pain of their actions. This includes the Lagos State Government itself whose facility maintenance department cannot claim ignorance of the faulty lift in one of its prominent General Hospitals.

The Diaso family has the right to sue and extract some justice.