Shock, disbelief, outrage, lamentation; these were the emotions that ran riot in the minds of Nigerians, both at home and in the Diaspora, after the Dana plane crash, which claimed the lives of about 157 persons on Sunday, June 3, 2012. We pray the Black Sunday will never return in Jesus' name, Amen. The said date will, for a long time to come, remain one of the saddest days and indelible in Nigeria in view of the personalities that lost their lives in the crash. Nigeria has, indeed, lost people who are in positions to educate, enlighten and entertain Nigerians on relevant issues for the development of the country. However, in order to curtail future disasters, workers in the aviation sector should be properly screened by experts to know whether they possess the basic requirements relevant for the effective running of this vital sector. This is absolutely necessary because most ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) currently perform abysmally low as a result of the federal character principle, which is not properly applied. In an attempt to reflect all states in federal establishments, specialisation is not reckoned with, thereby paving the way for 'godfatherism', which then results in tribalism, favoritism, nepotism, etc, when securing positions. We should reserve the federal character principle for the best brains as it is practiced in the United States of America (USA). In Nigeria, it appears we do not bother to look at the competence of the person being appointed, so far we are out to fill a position with a person from a particular stateHowever, there is need for us to avoid this, at least in some sensitive sectors like that of the aviation. Again, the aviation sector should be rigorously, religiously and effectively guided and guarded, especially on the maintenance of airplanes. We must not continue to lose talented human resources through air disasters.A good example of the misuse of the Federal Character Principle is when someone who studied religion is made the Director of Operations in an agricultural outfit. This are many of such cases in Nigeria, and it should call for questioning. In this situation, what professional contribution will the religion graduate impact on the operations of an agricultural outift' Will such person ever understand the workings in the agricultural industry' As a result, one may be right in a way if one says the frequent plane crashes in country may be as a result of unqualified workers on the staff list in the aviation sector. Therefore, it is important that the presidency takes the issue of professionalism in our MDAs seriously. Any employer found violating the issue of professionalism should be made to appear before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the Independent and Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), because such persons are economic saboteurs. It is disheartening and painful to watch fellow Nigerians die needless deaths in plane disasters. In some cases, all members of a family perished, all because of some people's negligence, greed, irresponsibility and inability to engage the right caliber of professionals. If the right things had been done, there would have been close monitoring of the activities of the personnel in the aviation sector. It is shameful that old planes, often tagged 'flying coffins' are still in operation in the country. These are planes that had been discarded in the West and were bought and refurbished for operation. This is also true in other African countries, and this is part of what is causing air disasters on the continent.According to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), which monitors air crashes worldwide, there were 57 air accidents in 2005, and 1,229 fatalities. Out of these, 15 happened in Africa, leaving 390 people dead. In view of this, one can say that a significant number of air disasters occured in Africa, and what is partly responsible for this is that we ignore safety measures. In order to check air disasters, our airline companies should desist from buying dumped foreign planes, because they are deadly and unsafe. If they are still in good condition, the foreign airline companies would not dump them in the first place. Again, the attitude of corrupt officials who certify second hand planes as being fine, should be checked. These are planes that cannot even fly back to Europe or the United States where were bought. The relevant authorities in the aviation sector should, therefore, try as much as possible to ban dumped planes from fly in the country's airspace. Soeze can be reached via charlessoeze@yahoo.ca
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