Dear Madam, I want to inform you that I share in your pain, and I really feel sad that this is happening especially at a time when you and your team are making frantic efforts to change completely the image of the aviation industry in Nigeria. I have seen the enormous work put into the mortal Mohammed airport and I was particularly impressed with the on-going revamping of the Benin-airport. I want you to know that I am solidly behind you as you strive to give us a better aviation industry devoid of mockery from the international community.

Ma, after that DANA Air crashed, my entire being was soaked with uncontrollable tears. I was not entirely grieved by the crash, because it happens even in the most advanced countries and inevitably death will come to everyone, but I was sad at the manner the dead were treated. I was sad because Nigerians seems not have a brain or they simply forget to activate it. I was just sad seeing the scaring images as CNN flipped them in high definition for the entire world to see; how callous Nigerians can be in times of disaster. This bricked my heart completely and I was too lazy to do anything. I can argue it till eternity that your ministry deserves much more than this, and I will take my time to explain some burning issues, I promise it would not bore you.

1. Reconstruction: Ma, everyone has decided to brand the President, your boss as a monumental failure, but if he could appoint a woman of substance as you to man the aviation sector, whose few months in charge have recorded great success in terms of reconstruction of airports terminals, revamping the security system in our local and international airports, staffs training and re-training, computerization and lots more, then certainly I should not be in a hurry to jump into that conclusion that Mr. President is a failure. These strides in so little a time prove that the president may have succeeded. let me paraphrase the words of the president; “At a moment when Nigeria is recording giant strides in the aviation sector, we are hit with an unfortunate happening with the DANA Air crash, I want Nigerians not to look backwards, it is a major setback but we will not relent on our efforts to take the aviator sector to the next level”. Yes, the crash has happened and it is irreversible but lessons have been learnt and I am certain your grief didn’t prevent you from learning from this sad disaster. I want you to be strong for Nigerians and prove your critics wrong.

2. Emergency/Orientation: Ma, I will tell you the truth, your ministry flopped in this regard. I subscribe to the school of thought that insists we must always prepare for the unimaginable, I am certain you are your team where clueless when you got the news of the DANA Air crash. Although you would argue with me that it is the sole duty of the National Emergency Management Agency to oversea cases of emergency but I want to also tell you that emergency cases is not exclusively the birth-right NEMA. Your ministry should have done better. The response was poor, it took the emergency squad too much of a time to get on with the mission of saving lives. Everything regarding the rescue mission was a total disaster and I feel sad because we seem not learn anything. Even if your team can not learn from the past experience of the Belview and Sosoliso Air Crash, they are not too dull not also have learnt from the Hollywood blockbuster movies they watch on TV everyday. The fact that innocent citizens had to take the burden of these set of people, whom the government uses part of tax-payers money to cater for their salaries and allowances is a bad omen. Citizens have no right what so-ever to carry-out a rescue mission. Ma, in the United States, it is a criminal offence to go close to a crash scene, attempt on a rescue mission, distort the original arrangement of the wreckage from a crash scene or take high resolution pictures of the victims and/or wreckage to share across social media for fun. You will only be lying to yourselves if you think any of these didn’t happen on that black Sunday. The images speak for itself as they were displayed in full glory by international media powerhouses like CNN and BBC. I understand that you might not see anything wrong with that, but I can tell you that, that was mockery in the highest order for a nation who by providence so gracious parades itself as the giant of Africa, a degradation of the sense of our intellectual sagaciousness. I have always said it that our national orientation agency is completely useless, ever since I became an adult and in my entire adult life, I have tried to find the importance of this deluded agency but I could not find any. I understand perfectly well how the orientation agency in other countries performs but why we can not get ours to work is completely beyond me. The issue of citizens carrying out rescue mission is entirely their fault as their presences have never been felt in grass-root. Orientation is not only by having paid slot of adverts that passes little or no messages but a collective effort with other institutions and bodies with the sole aim of lecturing and enlightening the Nigerian minds, seminal and symposium can be organized in tertiary institutions and knowledge passed across millions of students. But they simply would not because they could careless about anything but how to use their offices as a tool for the advancement of looting in Nigeria. I have written a little about this agency, but I will find the energy to write more, because I am not stopping until they get their act together.

3. Resignation: I would not be so callous to unconditionally ask for your resignation, I understand that a lot of people are calling for your head; most noticeable is the speaker of the Lagos state House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji. I want to inform you that I am not buying into that ridiculous call by the speaker. Infact, what makes the speaker thinks he deserves the right to call for your resignation? Where was he when Governor Fashiola suddenly became a military dictator, sacking nearly 1000 doctors? How come he forgot that the word “resignation” exits in his dictionary only to remember at a time when Nigeria is still in grief? This is just one crazy attempt to gain cheap publicity and I am sad he decided to use the dead to achieve that.

4. Investigation: I was taking supper when I heard on national TV that the black box and data voice recorder has been found and taken abroad. Sincerely, I never thought the black-box would be found earlier that two days ago because the crowd that besieged the crash scene is enough to force any awaken victim to an irreversible sleep. I was so scared that it would take longer when I got the information that Nigerians where looting graciously at the crash scene, my fear was that theses guys shouldn’t loot the black-box. Maybe I am exaggerating too much because it is a known fact that the black-box in well sealed and enclosed in a protective covering that even the most deadly impact would not entirely cause it to leave its spot, but my skepticism is based on the fact that this is Nigeria and anything is possible in this part of the world. Okay, that is good news, the most vital tool of an Air crash investigation has been found, but my other worry is why Julius Beger was evacuating the wreckage of the crash too quickly, I mean .. I thought the Air crash investigators had to be in the scene and take images of the crash for computer simulation, observe carefully the wreckage of the crash, because sometimes the data voice recorder and black-box might not create a true picture but a fall-back to the images carefully taken at the crash scene could provide answers. Any one who has watched any episode of Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic channel totally would agree with me. You must not let the investigation into the crash be swept under the carpet; I believe the families of the victims deserve to know exactly what happened. This is it, this is where I leave my trust to you; to ensure that the final report is published and if the Air line operator is found in the offensive side or the Airport controllers made a communication error, they deserve punishment in accordance with laws binding the aviation sector.

May the soul of the departed rest in perfect peace

From an unknown blogger,
Nosa E Nosa
www.TheBusywire.com
Nigeria.