Dana Crash...Beyond the Tears

On December 10, 2010, I moderated a roundtable discussion on the aviation sector organised by Loyola Jesuit College Abuja parents based in Lagos in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Sosoliso air tragedy in Port Harcourt five years earlier. The programme held at the Lagos City Hall, and was attended by Dr Harold Demuren, Director-General of the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and members of his team, representatives of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), aviation lawyers, officials of the Accident Investigation Bureau, victims parents and relatives, insurance sector representatives and other industry stakeholders. That session acknowledged the relative improvements in aviation safety and infrastructure as at that date; the passage of the Civil Aviation Act 2006; and the reduction in the average age of aircrafts operating in Nigeria, all of which culminated in US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) Category 1 certification. However several ongoing challenges were also identified-persistent deficit in infrastructure-fire safety equipment and water hydrants, runway and runway lightings, ambulances, terminal buildings etc; issues with customer service standards and consumer protection; victims compensation, rehabilitation and counselling; and strengthening capacity in accidents investigation. Most importantly, the roundtable participants called attention to “a major emerging problem”-“the economic dimension of airline operations”-problems with profitability and operational viability of the sector which we warned “if not addressed lead to operational and safety issues”. As I reflected on the Dana Air disaster and the death and destruction occasioned thereby, my mind went back to that roundtable, and I wondered if perhaps focusing on those recommendations could have contributed towards preventing the June 3, 2012 Dana Air tragedy. My perception is that between December10 2010 when that roundtable held, and the Dana crash, standards and safety appear to have depreciated somewhat in the sector, and that may have been attributable to political interference in technical sector decisions and the economic dimension highlighted. In that interval for instance, a Minister has directed or condoned the arbitrary and forceful expulsion of a service provider (MAEVIS) from the airports contrary to all official and legal restraints. It is easy to imagine such a minister over-riding technical advice from industry regulators, in favour of whatever she deemed expedient. It is also on public record that a state governor, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom, had based on passenger feedback, warned Dana Air management about endangering lives with allegedly defective aircraft. It is difficult to believe that no such complaints were received by the Minister and aviation authorities! My personal experience is somewhat instructive. I have since the EAS air crash of May 2002 maintained a very strict discipline about which airlines I fly on. I had been on that doomed EAS aircraft less than two weeks before it crashed and it was patently evident to everyone on that plane that it wasn’t airworthy. I sat with Tunde Ajijedidun on that Lagos-Abuja flight and we spent the whole flight time pensive and prayerful as it huffed and puffed, lunged, plunged and rose dramatically all through the flight!!! Until recently my shortlist was Air Nigeria, Arik and Aero Contractors. But by some strange co-incidence I flew Dana on two Abuja return trips for the first time ever in last month and for whatever reasons, I vowed not to repeat that venture. I can’t put a finger on why since the service was good, but perhaps I concluded that despite the service, I wasn’t comfortable with the aircraft, which appeared old and laboured. Now we have lost 153 or so dear souls and visited grief and sorrow upon families due to what appears to have been a preventable crash. As I pondered over the fate of the families who have lost dear ones, I have kept wondering why we continue to agree to live this way? Why is the black man, the African, the Nigerian willing to endure pain and suffering just because of our predilection to greed, selfishness, and mediocrity? Why are we so short-sighted and self-destructive in our determination to never do the right things, but continuously seek personal privilege over collective development? Why do we believe that we can defy the laws of nature-that you can only reap what we sow and corruption can only produce backwardness and retrogression? When will we learn that evil can only produce evil? How do we console the victims and their families? That it was the will of God? That it was unavoidable? How do we explain this to Mrs Rebecca Aikhomu, and all the others who lost family, relatives, colleagues and friends? I commend the government and public reaction to this unfortunate tragedy, but beyond current emotions, will we learn anything from this occurrence? Will we actually change our behaviour? Will we start enforcing regulations based on the public interest rather than private interests? Will management and staff of public agencies, not just in the aviation sector start understanding that the whole of society including sometimes themselves and their relations will always bear the consequences of our negative actions? Will we start enforcing rules and standards without fear or favour and based on standards and global best practices? Our tears, outrage and condolences will not transform Nigeria. Only our actions will.