What made this all the more tragic was the fact that Ghana had never experienced a plane crash at Kotoka International Airport before this incident. It is a pity that it had to be a Nigerian plane, with a Nigerian crew and cargo that had to break that enviable record.
Over one year later on 3rd October 2013, which was last Thursday, there was yet another plane crash in Nigeria in which 13 people died. The plane was owned by Associated Airlines. Worse still the following day, which was 4th October 2013, a Saudi Arabian-bound Nigerian plane which was owned by Kabo Airline and which was carrying 400 passengers on board from Sokoto, almost crashed when both it’s tyres exploded mid-air and it had to crash land.
Had that plane actually crashed we would have lost another 400 precious souls on that day. Before the first crash took place last year and between the two major crashes there were numerous other smaller ones involving light aircraft, private jets, military planes and helicopters that were not publicised.
All these unfortunate events occurred under the tenure of Princess Stella Oduah, who is the current Minister of Aviation. Under her watch close to 200 souls have been killed in air crashes in the last two years alone.
This does not surprise me given the nature of the individual that is involved. What does surprise me however is the fact that just one day after those that perished in the latest crash were killed, before the victims were buried, before the site of the crash was cleared, whilst the charred bodies and burnt parts of the victims still lay at the crash site and before any formal investigation into the causes of the crash have commenced, the ruling PDP, through their spokesman Chief Olisa Metuh, has told the world that they have ”full confidence” in Stella Oduah and that ”she should be allowed to continue her good work”.
Is there any greater evidence of the fact that the PDP is a sick party that is led by sick people than this? Such insensitivity is rarely seen anywhere in the world. Only in Nigeria can this happen. Not only am I surprised but I am also utterly disgusted. How many more people have to be killed in air crashes before our President realises that he needs a new Minister of Aviation?
The truth is that there is far more to aviation than beautifying airports. The first and most important consideration has to be the safety of the passengers and the airworthiness of the planes followed by a solemn and avowed commitment to ensure the discipline, professionalism and efficiency of the aviation parastatals. Most important of all when a plane crashes, whatever the reasons or causes, the Minister ought to assume full responsibility and even offer his or her resignation. Failing that he or she ought to be redeployed to another ministry or completely removed from the cabinet. This is because it is his or her primary responsibility to keep air travellers safe and alive.
Sadly it does not appear that this is likely to happen anytime soon. As a matter of fact I am convinced that even if 1,000 people were killed in air crashes in the space of just 6 months under President Goodluck Jonathan he would still not redeploy or sack Stella Oduah because our President just ”doesn’t give a damn”.
Each time a plane crashes it saddens me deeply because to anyone that has ever worked there before aviation is like a family. Worse still those people that lost their lives were our people – they were our fellow
Nigerians. It really does hurt. Suffice it to say that there were no air crashes under my watch and not one drop of blood was split from the air whilst I was Minister of Aviation, whether it be passenger plane, private jet, helicopter or light aircraft. I thank God for that because if it had happened I would not have been able to sleep at night. I am the only Minister of Aviation in Nigeria between 2002 to date that can lay claim to that. I put it down to hard work, prayer and the grace of God and nothing else. Unlike some others, I was literally paranoid when it came to air safety and security because it was obvious to me that there was more to the whole thing than meets the eye.
Permit me to go into a little detail. The year before I became Minister of Aviation there were 5 plane crashes and 453 people perished from our skies. The airlines that crashed were Bellview (2005), Sosolisso (2006), a Nigerian military plane carrying a large number of senior army officers (2006), ADC (2006) and a private light aircraft in Kano which had on board the adopted son of the PDP National Chairman Ahmadu Ali and a pilot (2006). At the time that all these crashes took place Professor Babalola Borisade was the Minister of Aviation. In November 2006 Borisade was redeployed to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism where I was Minister and I was sent to Aviation and by the grace of God from that point on my team and I, with the full b
Written by: Femi Fani-Kayode
Courtesy of: Vanguardngr
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