I sat on my couch yesterday, glued to the Television, listening and watching all the images as they scrolled across the screen about the plane crash in Lagos, Nigeria. I was desperate to find out details of what happened. I wanted to find out what went wrong. For now, the death toll has been capped at 163 people. 153 on the plane and 10 on the ground. We all know that the body count is bound to rise as the days go by. So sad.

This morning, images of the pasengers and their families were posted on blogs and on facebook. Greedy and hungry bloggers and journalists posted the flight’s manifest before family members were notified. That is terrible, but that is not what this blog is about. As I looked at the pictures the passengers and family members, a feeling of intense sadness came over me. Many families are ravaged by the pain of the loss of their loved ones. I’m reminded of the pain of my loss. I’m reminded of the finality of death. They are never coming back. Then I get angry.

I put on headphones, turn on my Ipod and start running. As I begin to run, the anger grows and I run faster. I’m angry because all those people didn’t have to die yesterday. We all have a date with death, but it didn’t have to be yesterday. Their deaths could’ve been prevented. That Dana Air plane was not fit to leave the ground. When I was in Nigeria, I flew on two domestic flights from Lagos to Enugu. I flew on Arik Air and I flew on Dana Air. As I sat on those planes, I knew that both of them belonged in the jukyard. The planes looked like rejects from the rest of the world. Planes that would never fly in the UK or in America were purchased by money hungry businessmen and dumped on Nigeria and Nigerians. If you can’t afford to fly private, you have no choice but to fly on these death traps.

They don’t care about us. Everything on these planes are held together with duct tape. The tray tables do not open because they are duct taped to prevent them from falling out. The upholstery is ripped and the foam exposed. The planes are so old are not properly serviced, so we don’t even have a chance of survival. Airline regulators are supposed to inspect and maintain safety standards but either through incompetence or sheer corruption, they ignore their jobs. Pilots and flight attendants work on these planes, knowing that the planes are unfit and safety checks were not passed.

It could have been my brother, my mother, my father, my aunt, on that Dana Air flight yesterday. How many Nigerians have to die before we demand better? Tragedy after tragedy continues to happen in Nigeria and yet we do nothing. We have no other home. Even though some of us live in the UK and in America, these places are not home. How many Nigerians have to die before we demand a better chance to live? When are we going to say enough is enough? Today, tomorrow or never? Are we going to continue to just sit there and take it? When are we going to say “a resounding no” to evil and begin to build a real and better society?

To all the people that lost their lives on Dana Air flight yesterday in Lagos, Nigeria, may your souls rest in peace. To their families, may God give you the strength and fortitude to bear the loss.

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Ngo Okafor

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