Of a Nation, Her Weeping Leaders & Complacent Followers

My first reaction to the above picture was of immense sadness, for the President. I really did feel for him after all, aren't we all human? However, my anger against the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan led administration which was in repose mode reactivated itself. Indeed, I was not alone as comments on the above picture on my Facebook page shows. People are angry and deservedly so. Now, I have had conversations with different people and exchanged opinions on the culpability (or otherwise) of the President in the DANA Air tragedy that befell the nation. So monumental was (is) the proportion of this loss that people across the length and breadth of the country couldn't but shed tears at the grief evoked by such misfortune.

"How is this Jonathan's fault?" I have been asked. And my response has remained that I do not think, and never thought, he was personally responsible. But for crying out loud every buck stops at his table! For heaven's sake, he is the President. Every success and failure recorded during his time in office will be credited to his name because he is responsible for this country; therefore, I fail to get it when people try to exonerate him of inefficiencies he should be accountable for. If members of his cabinet are not living up to the expectations of Nigerians then it could be that there is a lack of communication between the President and his ministers on his vision for Nigeria. And by this I mean that either Mr. President has not effectively told his henchmen what his transformation agenda is really about or they misunderstood him. On a second thought however, transformations have been going on no doubt: prices of goods and services are at an all time high without commensurate quality; security of lives is at its ebb; infrastructures are dilapidated and worst of all, public trust has been eroded. Some transformation definitely!

In this case, he appointed Ms. Stella Oduah as Minister of Aviation and the Agency (NCAA) that certifies air crafts to fly fall under her purview. With all the emanating reports relating to the state of health of the 0992, MC Donnell Douglas (MD 83) from staff of DANA Air, it means that while our dear Minister was supposed to be ensuring that all agencies under her ministry discharged their duties diligently and effectively, she was at loggerheads with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic over their high fare of first class tickets in Nigeria in contrast with other African countries. She went chasing shadows and gave room for some unscrupulous elements to mess up with the substance of her Ministry. Maybe the aftermath of the fuel subsidy scam gives other public officers the impetus do as they wish. After all, is the Minister for Petroleum Resources not in office till date in spite of a damning probe report? Why should anyone act responsibly? President Goodluck Jonathan might not be a Pharaoh or a lion or even a General, but he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and it is high time he sees himself in that light and starts acting it!

After the crash, Ms. Oduah was reported to have cried (I didn't see that as weeping or crying) but I wasn't moved. True air accidents occur everywhere but there's a very marked difference between an accident and the consequence of a negligent act. An act that claimed over 160 lives! Putting many more into permanent grief; creating vacuums that will never be filled.

Next were the President's tears. Hmmm. Wasn't that how a certain Minister cried on Lagos-Ore-Benin Express-way on August 6 2007 when she visited the road and saw the dilapidated state? Hasn't the road claimed lives in their hundreds since then? We are tired of weeping leaders. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying leaders should become robots devoid of emotions; God forbid! What I am saying is that we should not get carried away forgetting the antecedents of our leaders.

And how about the rest of us? We forget so easily; scratching all of our problems on the surface and never getting to the root of any. Someone summarised our attitude thus: "All their indifference and mad obsession with their own self interest will ultimately come to haunt them. A lack of integrity in all sectors of their life means that all processes are compromised. Police lending out guns, doctors operating for the sake of the costs associated with it, government official selling free donated drugs meant for the poor, fake medicines being made, no emergency response because contracts awarded and looted! Teachers selling exam papers, people importing fake fuel! Soon, their building will be falling, bridges will collapse and yet they will still continue to smile and praise themselves for being able to navigate this hell they have created for themselves! After the Dana crash, I listened to them, not a statement about the ills that have created this crisis, not a single appreciation of the scale of the social ill that engulfs them! Tomorrow they will all go about their normal lives, cheating, lying and looting! Come friday/sunday, they will pray for the deceased and in particular that they themselves do not enter a plane destined to crash!" How true! How so chilling true!! Deeply religious we are, and yes, we must pray because God himself is in charge of all the affairs of man. But we need to realise that God blesses our actions. Or isn't it instructive that two-third of His name (go) is an action word? 

The DANA Air mishap has happened and is in the past. But we must fight collectively to ensure justice is done. And this goes beyond suspending DANA Air's operating license. Everyone found culpable in this criminal act has to be punished. Will this bring back the dead? No. But the essence of any punishment isn't to undo the past but to assuage the feelings of the bereaved while serving as deterrent to others. In addition, I believe a good number of us have read the report on Air Nigeria. We need to call on government to order a thorough examination of all air crafts on operating locally and sieve the wheat from the chaff. We should not go back to business as usual. Every one of us must wake up from this deep slumber. We cannot continue to haul criticism at government while sitting tight on our behinds. We can, have to and must do something to change our world in whatever little capacity we have. Everyone of us must in the words of Michael Jackson, think of the change we want, take a look at ourselves in the mirror and start the change process with the man/woman we see.

May God bless us all, keep us from evil and grant us the wisdom (and all it will take) to rebuild our nation. So long folks, be kind! xoxo