For every disaster or incident in Nigeria, the same templates have been adopted being investigation, recommendations, white paper, etc. There is never implementation until the white paper turns brown or another disaster happens, and the template is dusted up and the circle continues. In Nigeria, operators are regulators and regulators are operators. Government officials are contractors and contractors are government officials

A man, who lost his wife, daughter and sister-in-law to the ill-fated Dana Air plane crash, Mr. Ike Ibe, yesterday blamed unbridled corruption in the country for the crash of the airline.

Ike, who appeared before the Joint Senate and House of Representatives investigative committee on the crash of the Dana Air plane, came close to shedding tears as he spoke.

He gave a blow-by-blow account of how his wife and daughter of 11 years boarded the ill-fated Dana plane.

He said: “Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this public hearing. I have come neither as a regulator nor as an operator, neither did I come as an official or stakeholder. I came because I’m involved, and I’m involved because I’ve been dazed by Dana. Half of my family, my wife Nancy, my daughter Jennifer and my wife’s Auntie Maria were victims of the Dana crash.

“On January 1, 1997, I married an angel called Nancy Echendu Ibe (nee Okwulehie). God blessed us with a warm and caring family and sent two other angels to the world through us named Jessica and Jennifer aged 13 and 11. On Sunday June 3, 2012, I drove my family to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport for Nancy and Jennifer to catch a flight to Lagos on their way for a family event in India. They were joined by another family member, Mrs. Maria Okwulehie. They were to be away for 10 days. Now they will be away permanently.

“When I decided to move my family back to Nigeria from the United States, many people thought I was crazy and I would regret the move before long. They were right. Here I was, yanking my family away from a society where everything works, where life is good, where the government works, where rules and regulations are obeyed, where there is high level of certainty of public and private actions, where schools are highly rated, where hospitals are properly equipped and very well staffed, where drivers are intelligent enough to pass junctions without relying on traffic warders or light, where there are hardly pot holes on the roads, where official corruption is hardly present, where leaders are trustees of the peoples’ power and people are the custodians of the power. I was dragging my family out from this society and taking them to Nigeria where everything seemed entirely and sadly apocalyptic.

“My wife and my daughters tried so hard to adapt after the first year but it was tough for them. Of all things, my family couldn’t understand the constant blaring of horns by driver, nor why there was always traffic jams, especially at intersections. They did not understand why there was constant power failure and blackouts or why we always had to generate our own home electricity, pump our own water and hire our own security personnel. They could neither understand why we had to spend hours on fuel queues or why people.

“All kinds of commentaries have been written and all shades of reasons have been adduced for the Dana crash. I have read stories that the black box had been recovered and taken abroad for analysis. If my wife were to be here, she would tell you that there’s only one reason that the black box would give for the crash and it is corruption.

“I agreed with my wife on many things during our 15 years of marriage, I would have agreed with her on this. It is very clear that over the years, the Nigerian system and structure has broken down.

“For every disaster or incident in Nigeria, the same templates have been adopted being investigation, recommendations, white paper, etc. There is never implementation until the white paper turns brown or another disaster happens, and the template is dusted up and the circle continues. In Nigeria, operators are regulators and regulators are operators. Government officials are contractors and contractors are government officials.”



http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/51041-corruption-caused-crash-says-man.html

If I ever had plans of moving back home soon, then this has discouraged me entirely