Another Crash, Another Cant

[MrVan]

TEARS are running. Anger is mounting and experts and pseudo experts are filling every available space with what should be done, what should have been done and what must be done. How long would these last? What would change?

Would the Dana crash that took 163 lives only add to the list of our aviation disasters? What changed after these crashes?

· 22 September 2005, Bellview flight 210 killed 117 in Lisa, Ogun State.

· December 2005, 107 perished in a Sosoliso crash, in Port Harcourt, many of them school children.

· 7 November 2005, 96 lives, including the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, his son and a grandson, lost in an ADC air disaster in Abuja.

· 17 September 2006 an Air Force Dornier 228 aircraft (with 18 people on board) crashed in Mbakunu in Sangev-Ya, Benue State; 13 people (including 10 army generals) died.

· 9 May 2010 black out at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. It lasted four hours. The Senate considered it an embarrassment.

Air Marshall Paul Dike, former Chief of Defence Staff led the government committee that went round the country and produced a 2005 report that covered all critical issues on aviation. Government then setup a N20 billion intervention fund. The use of the money is a subject of litigation, with allegations that it was misused, stolen.

A recurring issue around crashes is inoperative emergency services. When the crashes are in remote locations, the terrain is the perfect excuse for the services not working. What is the excuse for poor rescue operations for a crash in a Lagos suburb?

The loss of lives that non-availability of prompt emergency services causes was a major concern in previous crashes. The situation is so bad that though the Sosoliso flight crashed in the airport, there was no water to quench the flames. Little has changed since then.

The other month, the Senate Committee on Aviation pranced about the premises of Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, over a power failure at the airport. The fast-tracked provisions to improve electricity at the airport ignored the importance of electricity for other Nigerians.

We cannot make the point enough that infrastructure is critical to improving Nigeria. It is deceitful for anyone to expect emergency services that would race to site of air crashes, while emergency services are absent in everyday life.

The most recent crash calls attention again to the importance of establishing structures for the security of lives. Crashes demand better regulation of aviation safety, but they also challenge our emergency services, electricity supply and general infrastructure.

A lasting tribute to the victims would be measures to minimise future losses. Our hearts are with their families.

 

Vanguard Nigeria