When the Dana Airlines plane crashed in Lagos on Sunday, June 3, 2012, the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah called a press conference, broke down and wept. But when the Associated Airlines aircraft plunged to earth on Thursday, October 3, 2013, she made a media appearance, this time defiant.
She waved the sad event that has so far claimed about 15 lives aside as “an act of God”, saying that as minister, her job is to provide leadership and ensure that the right policies were in place for the aviation sector to run efficiently. She passed the buck on safety and industry regulation to the heads of the agencies in the sector, such as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA; Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN; Nigerian Airspace Management Authority, NAMA and the rest. But if any of them wins an international award she would count it as one of her achievements in office, to be sure!
Femi has made a great ass out of himself in recent times in the public sphere, embracing controversial issues controversially and getting called all the dirty names in the book. The fact that he is a major contributor to the rot in the aviation sector for which he is answering charges in the courts for allegedly stealing billions of naira does not faze him. He has obviously learned from his employer, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has perfected what ace Nigerian music star, Sound Sultan terms: Ole de shout ole, or the thief that shouts “thief!” In our society, pickpockets and petty thieves are visited with instant justice. Once they are caught in the act and alarms of “ole” or “onye oshi” or “barawo” are raised, death is imminent through jungle justice. So, the thief got smart. Once caught in the act he would shout “ole, ole” along with the crowd, hoping to confuse the mob and escape.
Femi was among the first to rush to the media to condemn his successor in office, forgetting that Nigerians have not forgotten he is a major culprit for the diseases of the sector for which he is being held accountable in the courts of the land. Nigeria has deteriorated to so low a level in public morality that people who should go and hide from the public due to their scandalous and discredited lifestyles are now the noisiest advocates and defenders of virtue and integrity!
Honestly, I am an admirer of the physical impact that Stella Oduah has brought into the aviation sector in just a little over two years. The airport remodelling projects all over the country are modern marvels Nigerians have never seen in this generation. Never was there a time in recent history where government projects were embraced in such a wholesale manner and completed in such record quick time; a pace of achievement only often seen in private sector ventures.
In particular was the fact that two international airports at Owerri and Enugu were taken along and completed, a departure from the past when the South East was always studiously avoided in the establishment of ambitious, economy-stimulating federal projects. I am also enamoured of Oduah’s vision of our airports as areotropolises or commercially oriented mini-cities which we all see in advanced countries when we travel.
But on the issue of industry regulation for greater safety, Oduah’s tenure has not been up to speed. Seven air crashes in two years cannot be swept aside with a gale of bravura and boldfacing. The Senate did the right thing in summoning her and the heads of the aviation industry chief executives to tell Nigerians exactly why we are having such a grim harvest. Are we paying more attention to the contracts side of this business than working on the more important and technically tasking side that ensures safety and comfort of air travellers? I do not support Oduah’s assertion that the crash of Associated Airlines or any other crash was “an act of God”. Nigerians are very religious people, but most of them do not know God. They like to go to churches and mosques, flaunt their religious identities, fight for their religions and wear the garbs that set them aside as people of their faiths. But when it comes to the things that really matter in religion – the Almighty God – Nigerians do not bother to know what He is really all about.
Nigerians are very quick to blame their failures on God. A Nigerian would promise you: “I will be there, in sha Allahu” (by the grace of God). If he failed to turn up (even when he did so deliberately) he would say it was because God did not want him to be there. If God wanted him to be there He would ensure it. They run away from the truth, which is that God has given man the power to take decisions and actions and account for them. A person given the power to make sure that only properly maintained aircraft are allowed to fly cannot blame God when he allows corruption, ineptitude, politics or any other distractions in the environment to make him fail in his duties.
My own understanding of the English expression “act of God” simply means, “factors beyond human control”. Accidents will happen. But most accidents happen due, mainly, to human failings. Air crashes can happen for a variety of reasons, such as pilot error, severe weather, mechanical or electrical failures, conflicting signals from the control tower, sudden obstructions on the runway, bird strike and so on. Most of these factors can be controlled by man through discipline and competent handling. That is why crashes are high in some places and low in others.
For me, it becomes an “act of God” when, especially, the force of nature is at work. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and typhoons, floods, wildfires and such natural disasters can be called “acts of God”, but even at that, man has come to minimise the havoc they wreak through expert handling. That is all we ask for. That is why we have so many specialists and experts at work. For Minister Stella Oduah, the Associated Airlines crash is a Yellow Card. We do not want to see the crash that will amount to the Red Card
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You are a Bigot. Seven yellow cards and you are giving a Yellow Card? How many do you need for a red card? 49?
ReplyDeleteWhat an idiot. Nigerians love to kiss the asz of their oppressors. Either this "writer" is an agent of this lunatic government, or they're brain-dead and cannot read the writing on the wall.
ReplyDeleteReview other countries aviation sectors and calculate how many plane crashes they experiences for the past 5 years. Also check how many times their sectors reported faulty plane engines or premature plane landings within a year, then you will come in conclusion to know that the Nigeria aviation sector is immature and lacks good management.
ReplyDeleteDevelopment within a sector is not about how much you invest within the sections but it is all about how brilliant you have enhanced in managing what is utilized within these sections or areas in order to protect lives and encourage your customers to patronize your services without fear. If you criticize Mr Femi because of the billions of Naira you claimed he stole from the aviation ministry. Why support the Stella Oduah for putting peoples live at risk even when almost a hundred or below (not sure) prominent individuals have lost their lives through plane crash accidents. If you are a reasonable journalist, you should know that your live is more important than wealth and whoever that cannot guarantee your protection is not worthy to manage anything that is dangerous and liable to disaster if not well coordinated or managed.
The problem with our country is that we do not focus to solve our current problems at stake rather we deviate from our solutions and console ourselves by criticizing people who are no longer connected to our present issues yet to be corrected. In one of the news report on the plane crash investigation, we were made to understand that a warning signal was sent to the pilot of the crashed plane which he never adhered strictly in complying with the regulation, but we failed to ask why this pilot neglected such instruction. Therefore, our federal government should investigate to know if their employees are satisfied with their employers or if the people managing their resources are really doing their work, because if you are not comfortable with the management, your employer or the the way your immediate supervisors are handling their work, then you will disrespect their instructions. You cannot be an aviation minister and not do your work. So I believe that woman called Stella Oduah is only showing her face on the TV and talking rubbish but doesn't know how to resolve any of the problems being experienced within the Aviation Section. This means she does not completely know how to discharge her duties as our aviation minister.
Our lives are more important than the Millions of Naira the Federal Government are putting into the Aviation Section in terms of management and you can bet me today that our leaders are also afraid to sit on a commercial plane en routing within the states of Nigeria because they know that in Nigeria, individual safety is never guaranteed by the so called government because each and every one of them representing the government, only care about the money involved and not the projects to be executed with the funds. If the Nigerian Government is reasonable and not a CHEAT, then they should start resolving the problems within the aviation sectior by making Stella Oduah to resign from her office. more than 3 plane crash is enough for the government to relinquish her of her duties because that is exactly what President Goodluck Jonathan did to our previous chief of police and his six deputies when he claimed that claims that members of Boko Haram infiltrated the security services. Also, the use of old airplanes are bad business because you cannot put an old car on the road with weak engine which has functioned for more than 10 years and still expect it to ride from Lagos State to Abuja (close range) without experience a break down on the road or slow movement before completing the journey.
Whoever know good works and refused to do it is a sinner, the wages of sin is death.
ReplyDeleteTell me !, upon all the prestige ,and honour vested on Agagu's, burial only to be degraded / with pains and deaths is that not enough for others to know that whatsoever a man soweth,that shall he reap, sacking Minister Stella cannot solve nigerian aviations problem, she is doing a great job,and should be helped by putting hands together. Take for instance the stoway boy Daniel, who is to blame had he dropped dead, the Stella or the security?
Critics can only fuel issues ;but proper discussing can take care of this mess is quite unfortunate power tussle has made nigerian to resort to all kind of wickedness to achieve their aim which is very bad- is the Associated Airline's pilot not a boko haram? Let's ask ourselves-we are waiting for more result.
The issue is that most of these airliners bought planes which are already old and they want to put them to use till eternity. What do you expect but for the planes to crash when they are too old to fly. All stake holders are to blame because they cannot claim ignorance of the age of planes operating in Nigeria but satisfy themselves that God is control and nothing is gonna happen forgetting that God like to help whom so ever helped themselves.
ReplyDeleteNICE write up. Just as president Goodluck can not be everywhere at a time, Stella can not be at every airport/hangar at a time. She can only give directives and provide the enabling environment for other officials to do their jobs effectively. How would U feel if after giving Ur child the best possible upbringing only for him to derail later in life and the blame for his bad atitude heaped on U. CONRUPTION & GREED of most NIGERIANS will not allow credible leaders to perform. So we shld STOP trying to remove the STICK in others EYES when there is a TREE in our own EYES.
ReplyDeletewonderful comments. Stella is minister, is she pilot? Safety starts with the pilot and his crewmen. Dana crashed cos the pilot was being stupid of moving an ill fated plane. He lost an engine in the air and had chances of landing with 1engine knowing how many souls on board, not ontil he lost al, he considered emmergency landing which he did not get. Now stella caused the crash. Agagu's associated crash, the pilot was warned because of greed of how much he'l make he continued. I tink al hands must be on deck 2 acheive greatness in this country. Sack stella, sack goodluck, u that want them sacked, are u doing wel where u are?
ReplyDelete