Dana Crash...Beyond the Tears (REPEAT)

*Note* This article was published just after the Dana Airlines Crash in June 2012. I re-publish it in exactly the same words in the wake of the Associated Airlines Crash and the multiple scandals plaguing the sector, in the hope that we won’t have to again publish these same words next year! 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.

Adventures in the Spirit

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision…” I once received a public scolding from an “intellectual” for making allusions to God, faith and spirituality in this column. In that fellow’s thinking, such “anti-intellectualism” was infradig given my stature as an analyst and commentator. I ignored the guy of course!!! “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” This column is named “Economy, Polity, Society” for good reason-man is the object and subject of society, and even though he is concerned with economics and politics, as well as social forces confronting society, he is in his essence, also a spiritual being. It is difficult for non-spiritual persons (notice I didn’t say non-religious!) to understand how vivid and tangible God’s communications with His children can be-clearer and infinitely more precise than any earthly medium or alternative altar could be, informing those who rely on Him of the thoughts and plans of men, and of matters seen and unseen! I am a fan of Malcolm Gladwell and I have been reading his newest offering “David and Goliath” in which he examines in multiple contexts how apparently weaker entities defeat their “stronger” and “bigger” rivals and how initial “disadvantages” can turn out to be beneficial. Gladwell of course finds many “intellectual” reasons why David prevailed in that epic encounter with the Philistine giant, but for me it was a much more simple matter-“Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel…”. As with David, so Esther and Mordecai; Daniel; and the three Hebrew children! Of course the fate that befell Goliath was shared by Haman and the powerful people-princes, governors, captains and counselors, who conspired to throw Daniel into the lion’s den. As well as Pharaoh and his armies! Secular writers on power and politics often caution potential revolutionaries to beware not only of the kings they seek to overthrow, but often also the potential beneficiaries of their mission. I see a hint of this phenomenon in the case of Moses-“And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked that way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.” May God save us from evil and spiteful brethren! Yet in spite of its obvious dangers, it is the duty, indeed the destiny of persons of integrity to speak truth to power and to seek to change society for better! That is what Jesus Christ, the prophets before him; and the saints and martyrs afterwards did!!! Even a little teenage girl, who probably never read the Bible, Malala, spoke against the Pakistani Taliban! However do not expect everyone to be like Christ, Elijah or Stephen! The Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Council and “religious” people never confront power-political, economic or religious!!! From the time of Christ, their “ministry” as outlined in Chapter 23 of the Book of Mathew has not changed! The real altars at which these categories worship are those of Caesar and Mammon! Many have become disillusioned and concluded that God has no role in saving Nigeria; that our easy resort to faith has become part of the problem, rather than solution; and our people instead of acting to confront societal ills, indulge in escapism of asking God to intervene. I agree. Yet I remain convinced that Nigeria’s problems are at least partly spiritual. Can you build a successful nation upon the blood of innocent people? Can a nation whose leaders indulge in unspeakable evil prosper? Can any good come out of evil covenants and spiritual bondage? Can a system founded on diabolical practices endure? Will God not look at many and say “These are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city”? Yet I believe Nigeria will become that which it could and should be, even though this may not happen in its current form. I deeply believe Nigeria will have to re-examine its structure and purpose. I speak both of our constitutional and federal structure and our spiritual essence. For those who continue to stand against Nigeria’s potential for their selfish interest, I have a retort-“This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof: but I will judge you in the border…”