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The Nigeria’s Navy Augusta 109 Helicopter Accident: Some Matters Arising By Dr. Emmanuel Ojameruaye
As a country, we must examine some matters arising from the recent Navy Augusta 109 Helicopter crash that claimed the lives of six Nigerians including General Azazi, the former National Security Adviser, and Mr. Yakowa, the Governor of Kaduna state, so that we can minimize a re-occurrence of such accidents. In this article, I will discuss four lessons from the accident.
The first lesson is that we must move away from the culture of conspicuous and extravagant funerals in many parts of the country, particularly in the South-South geopolitical zone. Rather than being solemn and private events, funerals have become occasions for the nouveau riche, especially politicians, to show off their wealth and “connections”. In some cases, people keep the corpses of their dead parents or relatives in mortuaries for a very long time while they prepare for what they call a “befitting” burial. People go out of their way to build new homes where the dead are buried. Our newspapers, radio stations and TV channels are inundated with obituaries, condolence messages, and funeral announcements. Funerals now look like feasts. Top government officials abandon their jobs to attend funerals. Many deaths would have been avoided if we had a culture of “low profile” funerals. When people die as funerals, a "celebration of life" event turns to one of sadness and infamy. For instance, Mr. Oronto Douglas and members of his family and community now carry an emotional burden because of the helicopter accident that occurred as a result of the funeral of Pa Douglas. Therefore we need to start a movement to return us to an era of “low profile” funerals. For examples, state and local governments, private entrepreneurs, socio-cultural organizations and community-based organizations should to build and maintain modern public cemeteries and funeral homes in all towns and villages to reduce the incidence of burials and funeral ceremonies at homes.
The second lesson is to stop the practice of the using public resources for the funerals (and weddings) of top government officials and their relations (parents, children and even extended family members), except for a few elected and appointed leaders. It has become a common practice to use government vehicles and other public assets for not only the funerals of middle to top government officials and their close relations but also of some other influential members of the public. Government officials travel in government vehicles and collect travel allowances to attend private funerals in “official capacity”. Sometimes, government provides "financial assistance" for the funeral of top government officials or their relations as well as some other influential persons. This practice is illegitimate in most countries of the world. We need to find ways of taming this practice and save the nation of not only the billions of naira governments spend on funerals annually but also to reduce the deaths associated with travels to funerals.
The third lesson is to improve public transportation in the country with focus on road, rail and water transportation as against the increased preference for air transportation by government and the wealthy. In recent years, we have witnessed a proliferation of airports, helipads and government-owned and private aircrafts even though the country lacks the maintenance culture, discipline and resources to cope with the requirements for aviation safety. The Nigerian Presidency probably has the more aircrafts in its feet than any other Presidency in the world. The federal and state governments continue to establish new unviable airports throughout the country even though our roads continue to deteriorate. Of the 22 airports in the country, only four are known to be commercially viable. In other words, most of the airports are white elephants. Many airports are less than 150 kilometres apart. For example, a new airport was approved by the federal government for Bayelsa state about two years ago even though Yenagoa is less than 120 kilometers away from both the Port Harcourt and Osubi-Warri airports and the East-West road has remained in a deplorable state. If we had good interstate expressways, an expansive network of high-speed trains and safe and comfortable water ferries as in most developed and middle-income countries, the demand for unviable airports, air travel, private jets and use of helicopters will decline considerably. As the helicopter and other recent air crashes have shown, the air is not safe for the rich and top government officials who are running away from the bad and unsafe roads and waterways. In other words, there is no substitute for a good and safe road, rail and water transport system within the country. The fourth lesson is the need to faithfully implement the recommendations of the investigations of air accidents, and to comply with safety requirements of aircrafts. There is no doubt that Nigeria has one of the worst records of air accidents in the world. The list and human cost of air accidents in the country is terrifying. Here are a few examples: On 22 January 1973, a Boeing 707 aircraft chartered by Nigeria Airways to fly pilgrims crashed while attempting to land at Kano International Airport killing 176 passengers and crew. On 7 November 1996, 143 people were killed when an ADC’s Boeing 727 aircraft crashed at Ejirin near Lagos. About ten year later, on 29 October 2006, another ADC’s Boeing 737 plane (flight 53) crashed in Abuja immediately after take-off killing 95 people including the Sultan of Sokoto and his son, the son of former president Shehu Shagari and Dr Nnennia Mgbor, the first ever female West African E.N.T. Surgeon. On 10 December 2005, Sosoliso’s MD DC-9 aircraft (flight 1145) crashed at the Port Harcourt International Airport killing 108 people including 61 secondary school students from Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja. The students used to travel to and from Abuja by buses but their parents opted to use Sosoliso Airlines to convey their children because of the deteriorating and unsafe conditions of the roads to Abuja. On 3 June, 2012, Dana’s MD-83 aircraft (flight 992) crashed into a building in Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos killing all153 people on board and six persons on the ground, including NNPC’s Public Affairs Group General Manager (Dr. Levi Ajuonuma) and Alhaji Ibrahim Damcida, the Under-Secretary of Ministry of Industries. There have also been countless helicopter crashes. Investigations are normally carried out after each accident and recommendations are made to avert similar accidents in future. However, there are strong indications that most of the recommendations are hardly implemented. There are also doubts about the thoroughness, credibility and objectivity of the investigations. This may explain why the governors have demanded to hire the services of an independent consultant and play a role in the investigation of the Navy Augusta 190 Helicopter accident. Furthermore, it is also a fact that some of these air tragedies can be traced to non-adherence of safety requirements. Some aircrafts are overused far beyond their mechanical limit. For instance, it has been reported that the Augusta 190 helicopter was on its 15th trip of the day it crashed. It means that the helicopter was being used as a “taxi” that day, and possibly the previous day. It is doubtful if the helicopter was designed to be used in that manner. In many cases, a pilot is compelled to fly an aircraft because of “orders” from above even when he knows it may be unsafe to do so. Therefore, as demanded by the Senate, it is very important for the government to make public past aircraft accident investigations reports and actions taken by government to address the recommendations. Furthermore, pilots should be protected from loosing their jobs if they choose to disobey orders to fly on technical or health grounds.
In conclusion, the recent Nigeria’s Navy Augusta 109 Helicopter accident must serve as a wake-up call for a national discourse of, and corrective action on, some critical issues relating to the “conspicuous-consumption” nature of funerals, use and abuse of government resources for private funerals, the focus of investment in modes of transportation and the investigations of air crashes in Nigeria. We must follow the example of the recent Sandy Hook School shooting in the United States that claimed the lives of six teachers and 20 children. This incident has ignited the much-avoided gun-control debate and President Obama is already poised to take on concrete actions to reduce shooting incidents in public places throughout in the United States. Therefore, the best tribute we can pay to victims of the helicopter accident is to take concrete corrective actions to prevent or minimize a reoccurrence of similar accidents in future. For instance, the National Assembly should develop a bill named after the victims of the helicopter crash to minimize the involvement of government officials in private funerals and the use of government resources in funerals. We should also return to a culture of solemn and low-key funerals which will save lives of people killed on their way to and from funerals.
22 December, 2012 |