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We have never had it this bad, even as a nation. Never in the political history of this entity called Nigeria has it had to grapple with the number of human losses that have become characteristic of this administration.
Before now, plane crashes were few and far in-between. Of course, one that would quickly come to mind is the Ejigbo crash that claimed the lives of a generation of Majors in the Army, during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. The nation mourned because, before then, plane crashes of that magnitude had never happened in the country.
Looking back now, it would seem that, that singular incident opened an unprecedented floodgate of air crashes in Nigeria.
Who can forget January 27, 2002 when bomb blasts at Ikeja Cantonment triggered a mass tragedy several kilometres away at Ejigbo. From a lake in that area, children were taken out as if they were fishes. Could you also remember a particular scene where a father, on sighting his only son, called to him to get up, after he had prayed most fervently over the corpse? It was a most heart-rending sight for whoever was ill-oppportuned to watch that sight.
Just last Saturday, as if the elements were not satisfied with their feasting on the lives of more than 117 passengers aboard the Bellview 210 Flight of October 22, 2005, they claimed more than 62 of our children aboard the Sosoliso 11.45 Flight. There seems to be a symbolism of Saturday here.
Twice in the life of this administration, young lives, indeed, Nigeria’s future, have been wasted. It is, indeed, a sad reality when a nation begins to count her losses in terms of the number of youths wasted. What hope do we have then? What shape would the future be? Or, is it their fault that their parents could afford air travel for them?
As some commentators have rightly noted, the crashes were an avoidable human tragedy. When a nation settles for second best, where ineptitude is accepted and even graded as the most affordable, then needless deaths would continue to occur.
For now, the easiest escape route is to blame aviation authorities. For the sake of argument, let us assume that our aviation authorities were on top of the situation and are in firm control of what happens in their arena. So, what were they doing when planes, which manufacturers had really forgotten about, were brought into the country with all pomp and ceremony and certified airworthy?
Can our leaders really look us in the eye and tell us that they have competent ministers manning most of their ministries, agencies and parastatals? Pray, what business does an educationist have heading a technical and complicated organisation as the Ministry of Aviation? Nothing! because it is apparent that since he would be unfamiliar with the technicalities of the aviation sector, he would, first and foremost, swallow any bunkum they throw at him there before he is rescued from by consultants, who, if you ask me, would have been hired to decode for him the lies hurled at him in his ministry. Don’t even bother to try out the arithmetic of how much the fees these ‘consultants’ would be. It’s a useless exercise, if you ask me.
Our President should share in the colossal tragedy that has befallen the nation. When you sacrifice competence and expertise on the altar of political expediency, the tragedies in the aviation sector would surely be replicated in other aspects of our national life.
I laugh when our leaders tell us that to ensure that things are done well, they have put round pegs in round holes, which loosely translates to mean that the right person has been given the task of which he has competence to tackle.
Here at the Senate, last Wednesday’s motion moved by its Aviation Committee chairman equally belied that fact. From the gallery, although I could not decipher the facial expression of Senate president Ken Nnamani, but one thing I do know is that something called embarrassment would have, even fleetingly, registered on his chubby face. So much for putting round pegs in round holes!
The chairman’s presentation on that day was anything but acceptable, to the extent that even his colleagues had to butt into his presentation to correct him on some ‘unnecessary’ flaws. In fact, some part of the gallery prayed fervently that the chairman would not go to Aso Rock to make any presentation. They prayed hard that he just honour the invitation and sit down because they believed that with what they saw on the floor of the Senate, only a disaster could come of any live, unprepared presentation. My people, don’t ask me to repeat them here. If I do, some constituents may begin to make moves for someone’s recall. One thing you can be sure of in this Senate: Whenever any tragedy befalls this nation, they would quickly commiserate with the victims, do a one-minute silence in their honour (between you and I, the one-minute silence doesn’t even last up to 40 seconds) and then mandate the relevant committee to probe into it and report back. You can bet your last Naira, if you are a die-hard gambler, and I can assure you that you would win should you believe that would be the last that would be heard of the matter. It has happened so very frequently that when I and some of my colleagues attempted to count them, we failed. No report has ever come back to the floor of the Senate.
And to think that the Senate made another blunder and had the audacity to call for Borishade's sack. Can they not remember what happened when they asked Baba to sack the then FTC Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai? The President did not only apologise on his behalf, he removed him from the clutches of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, and made him a minister in the Presidency! The Senate should spare the nation the shame of asking for something they cannot get. Or have they forgotten so soon how many times the President presented Borishade to them for clearance so much so that they wondered whether professors were in short supply in Ekiti State, a place where it is believed that practically every household could boast of one or two?
The Senate Aviation Committee was yet to submit its report on the October 22 crash when another one occurred. When Senator Aruwa, himself a pilot and a member of the committee, tried to persuade his colleagues that it would be better to let an ad hoc committee handle the Sosoliso plane crash probe, some hatchet men in the Senate chamber, whose job is to ensure that the status quo when it suits them, defended the need for the Senate to respect its standing rules and still allow the committee go ahead with its duty, even when it is clear that the committee is standing still, literally going nowhere.
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