Tuesday May 7, 2002
Introduction
First a plane crash with hundreds of fatalities, then an aborted plane flight (with no fatalities) due to fire on board - both in Kano, within days of each other: the first, May 4, the second May 7, 2002!
When it rains, it pours!
On Saturday, May 4, 2002, at about 1:30 pm local time, an Executive Air Services British Aerospace [EAS Airlines BAC 1-11-500 twin-engined jet crashed upon take-off from Kano International airport, killing 75 passengers and crew on board as well almost 70 more on the ground into whose houses the plane had crashed.
Four survivors (3 passengers and one crewman) were reported. One prominent victim was Sports Minister Mark Ishaya Aku. From the flight manifest released, five families lost two members each - the Usenis (wife Julie and son Danjuma of former FCT minister General Jerry Useni), the Eichholzs mother and child, the Alabas father and son, the two brothers Jafere S. and S. and the (French) Seyrats husband Pierre-Olivier and wife Aurelie. More families must have lost loved ones on the ground.
According to reports, Nigeria’s last major air disaster was in November 1996 when a Boeing 727 operated by ADC airlines lost control on its descent into Lagos airport and crashed, killing 143 people on board. Since then, a series of more minor ‘accidents’ has killed eight people. Consequently, this was the first major air tragedy of this civilian regime (since May 29, 1999)
Furthermore, this is the second major tragedy this year (after the Ikeja Cantonment bombs and related drownings in Lagos canals), and has resulted in the tragic death of a second current minister (after Chief Bola Ige in December 2001). When to the above facts we add the deaths at Zakin Biam and Gbeji, Odi and Jesse, coupled with riots in Kaduna, Jos, Ife-Modakeke and Warri environs, quite a lot of Nigerian blood has found its way in an untimely manner onto our soil during this civilian regime.
Too much blood.
“Bolekaja” Machines, Maintenance Culture & Fire-Fighting Facilities
There is danger every time one embarks on a journey: whether you walk, ride in or drive a car, take a train. However crashes in these ground-based travel modes are eminently survivable. Not so with planes, which, for me, despite my scientific and engineering background, still cause me to marvel on every occasion, how planes take off and lands. I still marvel that planes don’t crash the more. They carry with them so much mass, with so many living, breathing people keeping the faith that their Maker is not about to meet them just yet.
But sometimes He chooses to - like for those who died May 4. When a plane convulses and falls to the ground, that margin to delay that meeting is next to nil. It is therefore miraculous that there were four survivors on that plane crash.
However, what happens when perhaps old age of aircraft, a poor maintenance record of machine, and incompetent (or inadequately-trained) pilots “collide” with respect to monstrous flying machines? Can we afford to continue to have “Bolekaja” planes? What happens when a fire accident that happens on the ground cannot be quickly combated by efficient fire-fighting service?
What we get is heightened probability of plane crashes and preventable deaths, what we get probably is Kano - two times within almost as many days!
I write "probably" because the full investigation is yet to be carried out, but I daresay that I am probably right 75-90% with respect to old age. As far as BAC One-Eleven aircrafts are concerned, their first flights were in 1963 (39 years ago), and 245 such planes have been produced. However, production ended in 1982, meaning that the AES plane that crashed in Kano was at least 20 years old. Besides, that was the seventh major - and most fatal - lost-hull incident involving the BAC One-Eleven since 1989:
Date Airport Airline Casualties(Occupants)
1 September, 1989 Port Harcourt Okada Airlines 0(92)
26 June, 1991 Sokoto Okada Airlines 3(55)
16 September, 1991 Port Harcourt Kabo Airlines 0(?)
23 August, 1992 Sokoto Kabo Airlines 0(57)
29 August, 1992 Kaduna Hold Trade Airlines 0(72)
29 July, 1997 Calabar ADC Airlines 1(55)
4 May, 2002 Kano EAS Airline 73(79)
A quick digression: On my last trip to Nigeria in March 2002, I once saw along a major Lagos street about thirty human beings, young men all, high atop a lorry travelling in from Northern Nigeria, young men probably all headed to Idi-Araba or to Mushin or to some other Lagos Sabo joint. They were all covered with dust - and precarioulsy seated on ledges atop the lorry. I thought to myself that were this lorry to have an accident, every last one of them would be dead instantly, that animals should not be transported in this fashion, that this lorry should not have been allowed to go a one-mile distance before being turned back by a more caring law-enforcement regime.
It was scandalous. Wallai tallahi, we need to be more life-sensitive in Nigeria.
A Political Dimension
One of my very first thoughts upon hearing about the tragedy was President Obasanjo’s whereabouts: which of course I knew was somewhere in southern Africa, between Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. Would he cut short his eighty-something-eth trip or would NEPAD take priority over Kano?
So you can imagine the welcome relief when the news was reported that he cut short his foreign trip, returned Sunday to take charge of the situation rather than go on to Mozambique and South Africa , addressed the nation, visited Kano (to the crash site and the Emir) and Jos (to visit late Minister Aku’s bereaved family) on Monday May 6 without much controversy, and donated N10 million on behalf of the Federal government with a promise to rebuild damaged homes. Some complaint that the visit to the site was too short is certainly better than it was long and resulted in controversy and stone- and insult-throwing.
It appears that the Lagos-Ikeja Explosions Tragedy of January 27, 2002 has sensitized us all a bit more to tragedy at home.
It may sound politically incorrect to discuss it at this time, but there are political dimensions to the story: first, the unfortunate incident gives Obasanjo, as a civilian president , a third opportunity to do a thorough investigation of a major tragedy and report it to the nation in a manner to prevent its recurrence.
We are yet to get reports of the Ikeja explosions investigation, or of the murky Bola Ige assassination. Secondly, the death of another one of his ministers - Mark Aku from Plateau State - as well as Brigadier General N.T.H. Bozegha (Commanding Officer, 3 Division Medical Centre, Jos) in this plane crash also should wonderfully concentrate the president’s mind, that if indeed this crash is a result of lax safety standards, then this particular kind of death is a no respecter of persons. Thirdly, we also have an incumbent president seeking a re-election mandate from his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who has now been given an opportunity to demonstrate compassion, concern and positive action to salve the unfortunate circumstances of his Northern opponents.
This is in the face of serious and increasingly loud opposition from the Northern establishment, as for example embodied in the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and presidential hopefuls General Muhammadu Buhari and Ahaji Abubakar Rimi, a former governor of Kano State - or of Alhaji Wada Nas.
It is arguable who exactly benefits more from a more politic and successful response this time around - whether the Nigerian state or the president himself - but certainly he should take heed of this new opportunity, if only for his own good.
“Nuff said about politics, as we turn to how to prevent this tragedy from recurring - or at least put as much time distance as possible between this and the next one.
What To Do
Political will must here merge with technical imperatives to snatch the victory of societal advancement from the jaws of this particular tragic failure. We must demand:
- PUBLIC investigation of the specific circumstances of this particular flight: for example, the aircraft’s maintenance record, the competence of its pilots, etc. If in fact former Vice-President Chief Ekwueme was “miraculously” called by phone away from the flight from Kano to Lagos after boarding in Jos - as one report has it - was this happy occurrence (for Chief Ekwueme) fortuitous or did somebody know something that the rest of the world did not know? If so, when did he know it? Was there any insistence from any official quarters for this particular flight to take off, despite concerns for its safety? No matter its sensitivity, the investigations must start with these three questions.
- That ALL private airplanes on domestic commercial flights be grounded until they disclose the professional training records of their pilots and the maintenance records of all their planes. They should remain grounded until these records are brought up to date with international standards. When it comes to air travel, there can be no lowering of such standards - no “this na Nigeria; make we manage am so!” - because the consequences are too grave.
- A blue-print for fire-fighting in Nigeria: purchase and deployment (by population density and/or area) of fire-fighting equipments, and training of fire-fighting personnel in all airports AND cities across the nation must be embarked upon without further delay. With four survivors and reports of some victims screaming for help without succour from within the plane, it appears that more people would have been saved if fire-fighting equipments were adequate - including the availability of fire-dousing water.
- An air flight re-routing at all airports that directs flight paths AWAY from heavily-populated residential centers to prevent a situation where so many people on the ground can die from a plane crash that occurred within minutes of take-off. This is similar to the demand whereby army munition dumps should be relocated away from high-density population centers.
All these demands point to one thing: that Nigerian lives must not be taken lightly by either government authorities or commercial entities who are ever ready to cut corners, and exhibit an arrogance that nothing might come out of it if Nigerian lives are seriously compromised. In more litigious climes with more independent judiciaries, law suits would have shut down many of the domestic airlines - and many government concerns too - long before now.
Post-Script: A Call for Assistance
This is getting uncomfortably too familiar, but as with the Ikeja Explosion, Relief Fund, it is completely apropos for the same organizations to collect and disburse funds to assist the Kano air disaster victims, particularly those whose buildings were demolished. Consequently, you can again send your tax-deductible donations in check, cashier's cheque or money order:
The Nigerian Democratic Movement (NDM)
C/o ECANN P.O. Box 43531
Washington, DC 20010, USA
Tel: 202/806-6617
Memo: Kano/Nigeria Relief Fund [NDM will receive donations until May 31, 2002]
And/or the newly-set up relief fund at:
American Red Cross
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
Telephone: 202/639-3520 (Office of Public Enquiry) or 1-800-HELP-NOW (1-800-435-7669)
Memo: Kano/Nigeria Relief Fund
(Please be specific to avoid confusion with other relief fund accounts)
See: for latest Red Cross information on the crash
For updates on donations to the American Red Cross Ikeja/Lagos Disaster Appeal, please see the International Federation website:
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