My Thoughts About the DANA AIR Plane Crash

An unfortunate situation has occurred once again in our dear nation. Its still hurting me because I was seated at the airport in Abuja waiting for my 4.25pm flight when the passengers on that Dana Air plane to Lagos boarded. Ordinarily I would have taken Dana if I was heading to Lagos. Do I count myself fortunate? Not in the least because not one person on that flight deserved to die either! Everyone in Nigeria right now blames our government and the aviation minister as well as DANA Management but I however blame the following: 1. EVERY NIGERIAN who boarded the plane previously and never took a step to complain especially the last set that disembarked the plane and felt something was wrong. I heard someone an aeronautic engineer on board one of the Dana flights earlier spoke up when he saw leaking hydraulic but because the pilot assured that its ok and sure enough plane landed safely, he picked up his bags and went home mute. Someone may argue that there was a publication and the authorities should have taken it up but point is how many in authority do have or take d time to read the papers? 2ndly others who saw d publication, what did they do? 2. THE STATION MANAGER who knowing plane was bad still allowed it to fly because his Management insisted but point is, if he had refused won't he have lost his job? Question is how many Nigerians would have fought his cause even those he would have been trying to save from an imminent crash? Can u imagine d verbal abuse, threats and insult he would have suffered at the airport from those he would be 'saving'? 3. THE FEMALE DANA STAFF who granted an interview on Channels TV on monday morning because she knew and rather than speak up then is speaking now. Question is if she spoke earlier would she not have lost her job? Would her words as an insider and a concerned Nigerian be taken seriously? If she loses her job who would stand for her cause? 4. AVIATION MINISTER whose office and position demands by virtue of the sensitivity of that sector that any slight complaint be taken seriously as no less than 100lives are at stake every time a plane takes off from any Nigerian Airport. Why didn't she stop Dana from flying that plane until absolutely certain of its safety? Someone may argue that Nigerians always tend to peddle false info but isn't it better to be safe than sorry? Why didn't she tread on the path of safety and wait for Dana to prove beyond all reasonable doubts that their plane is safe? 2ndly if the information given in ThisDay was false why didn't the Aviation Minister act on safety grounds and allow Dana Air to refute the information? They still had the option of suing ThisDay if information was false. Question is if she had grounded the plane if n when she received the alert, can u imagine how many 'friends n stake holders' of DANA AIR that would have bombarded her lines with pleas, promises and even threats because they have a stake in the airline? 5. THE CHURCH in Nigeria whose fundamental and cardinal assignment is to teach people to love God and love our fellow man. How can we say we love God whom we cannot see when we don't love people whom we do see. Jesus taught a simple Golden principle, do unto others what you would have them do unto you but the operational principle is the Nigerian proverb-scratch my back and I will scratch yours! Honestly, having said all this, I also blame myself because I am equally a Nigerian with the Nigerian hang ups, mentality and attitude to things. Having asked these questions, the most pertinent question here is if I was in the shoes of any of the people mentioned would I have acted differently? Truth is I don't know now but I suppose my attitude would be same as the regular Nigerian who doesn't bother except it affects us personally! Would I want to lose my job for ingrates who wouldn't bother even after I have saved them at the expense of my job? NO! There's no guarantee and no where for recourse except in the law courts which of course we know their processes are expensive, long and cumbersome! So my family and all who count on me for their daily bread would have to suffer untold hardship because I want to 'save' lives of people who don't care so why should I bother? Would I want to lose face with some of our National Political and Money bigwigs who have a stake in the said Airline at the expense of my political network geared towards my 'political career' and future? NO! Would I want to be looked at as a trouble maker at the airport or even on the plane and given funny looks by fellow Nigerians for shouting 'wolf wolf' alone? NO! Would I want to 'waste' my hard earned money taking extra steps for a cause that am not sure may receive needed attention and of course no appreciation for my efforts and expenses? NO! Would I want to take up a cause against Dana with no assurance of security for my person or family in a country where people are killed at random and NOTHING is done about it? Absolutely NO! So the point is Every Nigerian and I mean EVERY single one of us is to be blamed for the Dana Air crash of June 3rd 2012 in Iju, Lagos! We are simply a people that don't CARE until it hits our door front! We are a true illustration of the Hausa proverb that every corpse is like firewood passing by until its a corpse from my house! Trust me when I say that every promise by the President and the Minister to investigate into the cause of the crash is simply an exercise in futility. Who is going to conduct the investigation? Isn't it Nigerians? The same fundamental problem will certainly show - NIGERIANS DON'T CARE when there is no stake in it for them. We are a FEARFUL, BIGMOUTHED people who talk a lot, criticize a lot, condemn every government effort yet we are the GOVERNMENT SABOTEURS ourselves, blame everybody else, and take no responsibility whatsoever for our actions! What is happening to the multitudes of persons lost in the recent bombing around the nation. Are the perpetrators GHOSTS? Don't they dwell among us? Do they reside in government house? Doesn't mean its not possible because even those in government are full of blame too. Certainly the perpertrators must be sponsored by some bourgeoise! Hmph! We are yet to have more misfortunes because we don't care. Bottom line is we ALL as a people must come to terms with our deep seated dysfunction-Lack of Care for the next person and begin to deal with ourselves then things like this can be avoided or at best loss of lives will be brought down to its barest minimum. We want a better Nigeria? I personally believe it will ONLY get better when we STOP shifting blames, become accountable individual, love Nigeria intensely, become patriotic in our thinking and actions and see NIGERIA as our individual and collective responsibility!! It will get better when Christians everywhere in this Nation begin to WALK the TALK, be the LIGHT and SALT and stop all the demon chasing but live the HIGHER LIFE indeed!!! We need to stop talking about the light but BE the light! Show we care! Show that the next person is so important. I rest my case fellow NIGERIANS! Or I daresay END OF PART I !!! God bless NIGERIA God bless our LEADERS God bless all our PEOPLE! (c) Chinelo Dillimono