LAGOS PLANE CRASH: Stella Oduah WHat's God Got To Do With IT? ...(MUST READ)

                                                         

"We do not pray for accidents but it is inevitable. But all we do is to do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents. But is an act of God…!”

Stella Oduah, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation (October 7, 2013, Abuja).

In defence of the pus, rut and mess pervading the Aviation Industry in Nigeria, Aviation Minister Stella Oduah has come out swinging. It is an acknowledged fact that much of the problem hitting the Aviation marketplace probably started before the minister was born. Against this backdrop, it will be unfair if I, through this medium unleash condemnation and criticism on the honourable minister who had not probably been conceived in the womb of her mother before Nigeria’s myriad problems were delivered in the birth-bath of Lord Lugard. On the other hand, however, if tragedies and disasters occur under the watch of an aviation team-leader, it is only understandable why many may opine that the leader’s hands are dripping and glossed up with blood spilled through a plethora of slaughter scenarios that are recorded to date in avoidable plane crashes.

The irksomeness I am expressing in this piece borders on the statement that the Minister made on Monday in
Abuja. Mrs. Odua said that plane crashes are both inevitable and “an act of God”.  I disagree on both ends. In many nations of the world where human lives are perceived as precious, and where greed and gluttony are not commonplace, air crashes are not inevitable. In a nation where it is country first and counting gold later, air crashes are not inevitable.  That is why in these nations we have flight delays and cancellations. That is why maintenance is up-and-up and accountability is not compromised. That is why staffs are paid on time and benefits are released to them promptly. A pilot who has not been paid by his employer for three months, and an engineer who has not been remunerated for a while will jump on any opportunity to make money even if it means flying a crippled plane for 40 minutes. That is the kind of risk people take with their lives and living in a nation where nothing  seems to be wrong with violation of both workers and human rights. 

Leadership is tough, so I am hesitant to throw all garbage at the doorsteps of Stella because I don’t have all the facts about Aviation in Nigeria. But I can, with some kind of authority, challenge what she said about the accident being “an act of God”.  What has God got to do with this? This is not an act of God, madam Minister; this is a culmination of gross and grave acts  of men killing other men, women and children, and submerging the nation in a subterfuge of grief and sorrow. Is it an act of God to have a gaping hole on the runway and not fixed for years? Is it an act of God to have electricity shut off at the airport while planes are landing or taking off?  Is it an act of God to have half-baked pilots who are proficient only in theories but deficient in hands-on maneuvering? 

Is it an act of God to have an aircraft maintenance company that cannot maintain?  Is it an act of God to extort Airline Operators making them pay for parking at the gate and hangars more than their counterparts all over the world?  Is it an act of God to look the other way when a warning light flashes indicating an engine problem in an airplane, and yet still fly?  Is it an act of God to have corrupt people by the steering wheels of aviation administration? Is it an act of God for government officials to receive bribe and then look the other way regarding abiding by the required aircraft standards? 

These are all grievous acts of  deliberately careless and ignorant men.  In Nigeria we are too much God-talking but our hearts are far away from Him. Can we for God’s sake just leave God out of this gaping hole of disasters and tragedies hitting us from all angles, and focus on what man ought to do?

What Nigerians clamour for at this time is a bear-hug of the truth.  And unfortunately, typical of Nigerian politicians, embracing the truth is not their vade mecum.  Whether it is Dana aircraft crash, or Associated plane accident, our problems are beyond these occurrences. Our problems are systemic! The systemic destructive viral attack has led to the pandemic bloodletting. Those crashes are just manifestations and revelations of age-long ailment that has bedevilled the system.  We all know what is ailing Nigeria, and we also know who and what brought the ailments. If we sidestep what is really ailing and throw the faults and blames on the broad shoulders of a merciful and faithful God when tragedies happen, it is a clear indication that we are not ready for a change. 

Schizophrenic love of money, bare-face, bold-face banditry and catatonic-cum-cataleptic corrupt mindset of “get-all-you-can and can-all-you-get” is our key problem in Nigeria. That is why we are stuck in the rut. Nothing is moving, all things have stopped working.  Any nation that has professors of pillage and plunder running the ship of government will always be stuck in the rut. Any nation that has blatant bandits, terrorizing thieves, and Goliath's of shamelessness and heartlessness leading any   form of government will always be stuck in the rut. 

Any nation that has cunning cohorts of coalesced country-club criminals carrying the banner of government will always be stuck in the rut. Any nation that has egregious gangsters and graduates of the academy of greed and gluttony controlling vital organs of government will always be stuck in the rut. Any nation that has essential services of government run by marauding gerrymandering geeks grounded in the theatrics of grabbing and grubbing will always be stuck in the rut.  

So when I hear this bombastic barbarous babbling of “act of God” that has become a lingua franca in our nation,  it belittles the big God we serve and depicts Him as a mean, machete-wielding,  sword-swinging, blood-thirsty God who cares nothing at all about the royal priesthood, peculiar people and holy nation that He created. God’s got nothing to do with these anomalies in Nigeria; man has to clean up his acts. God will not maintain your planes, load your luggage, hire capable pilots, and rid the system of corruption and the corrupted. God has done  what He will do-He gave us resources that we cannot manage, he gave us intelligent men and women that we kill and  abuse, he gave us capable men and women that will never run for office because of fear, and he gave us a nation that we don’t seem to love enough. That’s all He will do. It is time to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and forget about all this expected spoon-feeding from God who still continues to rule in the affairs of men.

It is both sheepish and a cheap-shot to call for the head of Stella Oduah, (a woman I have never met in my life), because of the current cascades of catastrophes. A change in personnel in Nigeria will not make any difference, but a change in personhood. A change in how every individual Nigerian thinks, a change in how we can truly be our brother’s keepers, a change in how we perceive money and its importance, and a change in how we pursue gold and get gain are all what will keep us afloat stormy seasons and waters of affliction.  At the end of the day, if as a Nigerian you hold an American passport, a British landing card, an European travel document, or a Russian Green Card, we all have only one country to always go back to. You know where that is.

This piece was written by Dr Fola Ojo