No
one is safe, anywhere in Nigeria....
This
was the thought that criss-crossed my mind on
Sun, 3rd June 2012 as my Blackberry was being bombarded with information on the
just-crashed Dana Nigeria Aircraft at Iju-Ishaga axis of Lagos State, Nigeria.
On board were 153 (or is it 148?) passengers and no one survived the crash,
affected also were those in the neighborhood where the plane crashed into.
May
their souls rest in peace...came
tumbling out of my mouth and it is still tumbling out till this day. Amidst
serious anger, I haven’t been able to write as my mind and spirit went numb,
for no one is safe anywhere in Nigeria as it
could have been anyone of us in any one of the so called aircrafts Nigeria
parades.
Yet
I must speak, Yet I must write, perchance my message will be carried on the
internet river, across IP bridges and over virtual mountains till the whole
essence of every Nigerian is permeated and a paradigm shift begins to occur in
the direction of Safety issues. My last blog was focused on:
1. The lack of Safety Standards in
Nigeria
2. The lackadaisical attitudes of foreigners
to health, safety and environmental issues in Nigeria.
3. The fact that only European and
American companies seem to practice a mild form of safety management, (at least relative to what they do in their own Country) while
their Asian (Indians in particular) colleagues are at the ground level of the
Health and Safety management ladder.
4. Proposal for the establishment of
the Nigerian Safety Commission.
5. And finally that I do not blame
them, for it is we, who have allowed it fly. (Kindly check my blog
of Thursday 31 May 2012).
However
it has been said that the Flight Data recorder and Cockpit recorder has been
found amidst the wreckage and we hope that a thorough investigation into the
Accident will be carried out (Really?)
Due
to the fact that investigations are still underway, I will refrain from pointing
fingers yet, however I will still analyze some information received so far.
1.
History of Plane Crashes in Nigeria and any lessons learned?
Nigeria
has had so far 45 plane crash incidents. If Nigerian Leaders and those saddled
with the responsibility for decision making at all levels know what they are
doing then I think the DANA air crash shouldn’t have happened (Barring any Force Majeure (Act of God).
What
do they call investigations? Is it that when they conclude it they toss the
reports into the bin (anyways we never
get to hear or see the reports sometimes), in safety management for every
incident and its investigations, lessons learned are generated which eventually
causes a review of the existing standards (Do
we have any?) and control measures in place.
Let
them come out and show us the lessons learned from the past and what they did
about it.
I
will suggest that this particular incident should be tackled thoroughly,
sparing no one and ensure we get to the root cause for two reasons:
1. Ensure it never happens again, or at
least it is controlled to ALARP (as low
as reasonably practicable).
2. Punish all those who might have
looked the other way, and allowed the Plane to fly even though it shouldn’t fly
(It is funny how some
people can sleep easy, when their actions and inactions have sent over 153
people to the grave as well as causing grief for a lot of people directly and
indirectly).
2.
Nigeria and Its emergency response system. How fast?
Reports
shows that our Emergency services arrived the scene after close to an Hour,
even after the Plane sent a distress call at just 11 Nautical miles to the
Airport, and in safety, time defines the survival rate after an Accident, such
that they could have saved a lot of people.
Nigeria
is one of the few places where Commissions/agencies/departments are set up:
1. Just for the Fun of it (So it seems).
2. Without adequate
funding to perform their mandates (as
reflected by our budgetary allocations and its prioritizations.)
3. Without the Necessary and
qualitative human resources needed (People
are elected and appointed into positions without necessary recourse to relevant
qualifications, experience etc.).
4. Where even when adequate funding
exists, corruption at all levels erodes the gains.
For
any Emergency response system to live up to its mandate, it must have within
its policy statement and vision a “response time measurement parameter"
a sort of KPI to guide its resource prioritization. I am sure that day, NEMA and others might:
1. Not have a functional standby system
within the airport.
2. Not have received the alert on time
either due to lack of communication gadgets and integrated systems to the
Airports communication system.
3. Not have a carrier, such as a helicopter
that could convey resources to the rescue as fast as possible.
4. Not even have enough fuel in their
cars (Don’t laugh! It’s not funny at all).
I
suggest that Nigerian Government prioritizes safety funding in Nigeria, ensures
that the Emergency services function and live up to their mandate, man them
using truly safety professionals without resorting to politics and ensure thet have offices within such sectors.
3.
Risk assessment and audit of the Aviation sector. When was it carried out last?
I
cannot remember the last time Nigeria carried out risk assessments in any
sector, not to talk of the aviation sector.
Is
it rocket science or high level quantum physics for any leader within the
aviation sector to know that he needs to carry out audits on the sector? Such
Audits is meant for:
1. To monitor compliance to standards
and regulations (if any? or if realistic
and functional)
2. To ascertain the state of health of
operators (I dare them to carry one out
NOW! and I am sure Nigerians will once again resort to road transport).
3. To assist in ensuring
that a continuous review of safety policies is maintained and as such controls
are updated.
4. Etc.
It
is sad, that we have people who call themselves professionals and yet do not
know their left from their right, is it a case of literate-illiteracy, or that
of knowing too much about nothing?
Without
further delay, all Air lines in Nigeria should be made to undergo a risk
assessment and audit by an independent body (I hope it will truly be independent and
without tampering from you-know-who...). In fact at the risk of
sounding like an extremist, none should fly for now pending the outcome of the
audits (quite impossible though).
4.
Operational peculiarities and characteristics of foreign companies.
I
am so sure that by the time the investigations are concluded, the INDIAN
management of DANA Air would be identified as one of the causes.
Most
foreign companies, even though welcome and filling a NEED have to be monitored and if possible sent
packing or possibly ostracized (if possible within the framework of
international relations). My last post made a reference to this also,
statistics and experience has shown that the manner in which ASIANS (particularly
Indians) do business is bereft of morals and standards and reeks of
profit maximization to the detriment of all other things.
However
if they are truly enlightened and know how to do business, they will know that
amongst all things safety has a direct and indirect (almost hidden, yet costly)
relationship to their profitability and sustainability. Is it not true that in
Nigeria, no AIRLINE survives the outcome of a PLANE CRASH?
But
I do not blame them, but I blame my Government who has allowed his front yard
and backyards to become a dumping ground, and allow all sorts of things to fly and wait for the deaths of its citizenry en-masse
before he revokes the licenses of operators. I hope they are all happy now? I hope
they enjoy the proceeds of their compromise and gamble played using the lives
of 153 Nigerians?
1. Nigerian should
develop a very stringent safety framework and standards, even more stringent
than UK, ensure that they fulfill the Terms, recommendations and conventions of
all ratifications, such as that of ILO and ISO etc.
2. Don’t just develop it for
development sake, but monitor and review periodically (Reviews of policies in Nigeria is non-existent).
5.
Any National Safety regulatory body?
Nigeria
will only be wasting time and money, without a national monitoring giant devoid
of distractions and interference.
Those
who may want to argue that, we have regulatory bodies for each sector within,
to me lack in-depth safety issue analysis, especially
in a place like Nigeria and considering the subject called SAFETY.
A SYSTEM is what we need, not
isolated pockets of regulations. For Safety to really work in Nigeria (or
even anything at that), The Government needs to look at it as if one is
looking at a continent from outer space. What view would you see?
A
solid, continuous mass.
Safety
is inter related and should hence be managed holistically. Permit me to put it
in perspective using this scenario. A truck carrying hazardous chemicals has an
accident near a nuclear reactor plant.....to safely and successfully manage
this incident...the following people need be there, Fire safety, Road safety,
nuclear safety, chemical safety, evacuation teams etc.
In
order to ensure all resources are deployed to the site timely and in an
integrated fashion without conflicting interests and thereby save lives, it
needs to be looked at together, like a system.
Without
calling for the scrapping of all other safety bodies or sub-sector regulating,
I once again propose and promote the formation of:
A NIGERIAN SAFETY COMMISSION (Please
check my last blog May 31, Thursday 2012 for detailed proposal on the
commission).
Permit
me to rest my pen here and to say once again May the souls of the departed rest in peace. And to my Government I say:
"You
can compromise on something’s, but you can never compromise on SAFETY, as ACCIDENTS are patient but unforgiving....and
it may be YOU next time!"
