Fashola at the memorial
Just like a day after a Dana aircraft crashed last year, all routes to Iju Ishaga were congested on Monday. This time, it was not due to exigencies that called for rescue mission or situations that demanded emergency response when the crash occurred. It was a moment of solemn reflection of calamities, which cut short 157 lives aboard the aircraft and 10 other victims who were affected in the building the plane crashed into.
A teeming crowd - both family members of the victims and concerned residents of the state - gathered at the site of the plane crash. Everywhere was somewhat quiet, apparently due to the gory pictures of the air accident that might have flooded their hearts. Until the programme took off effectively, the audience from all walks of life was speechless, perhaps recalling their last moments with some of the victims of the crash.
Despite diverse issues that subsequently came up before and after the anniversary, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State evoked the living memories of grief, loss and pains, which the plane crash cost people of different nationalities who chose to fly a Dana aircraft from Abuja to Lagos on June 3, 2012, a fateful day no Nigerian would ever pray to witness again, either in the country’s landscape or any part of the world.
This apart, Fashola said whatever anybody “says today will be an inadequate expression of what we truly bear in our hearts. The greatest testimony will not be in our words, but in our actions. The loss of 157 lives was sudden and terrible. But for their families, the grief is heavier. Lagos shares in your sorrow. And therefore today, we remember not only one moment of tragedy, but 157 lives of great promise and achievement”.
This remark underlies the memories of the plane crash, which the governor said, were probably as fresh as they are painful; particularly the day when “we were forced to confront the thoughts we might have pushed to the innermost recesses of our minds, just to enable us get from one day to the next. No one could predict what sad thoughts that would accompany it. By nightfall, lives had been cut short and a year may seem like a long time.
“But for the families and friends of the men, women and children we lost, that day does not feel like history. It was an accident that took place in Lagos, but its impact and reach were beyond our borders. Men and women, Muslims and Christians, Hindus and atheists were joined by a common pain. It was a horrific day. I remember that I had promised myself to rest a little that afternoon and prepare for a new week.”
He raised questions on the root causes of the plane and what caused delay in releasing report of an inquiry into the plane crash. He thus said: “We had experienced a tragic accident whose cause remains yet unknown. While the cause was at the time unknown, our collective tragedy was immediately unfolding. Many nations and their nationalities from India, China, the United States and Nigeria were united by a common grief.
“Just like many of you, I remember where I was. I had just settled on my settee to watch the television when the news filtered in. Initially, I was told it was a cargo plane in Ghana. As I sought to make further enquiries, my thoughts were racing. The cargo was replaceable, how many crew were on board. I was in this reverie of a damage limitation calculation when my enquiry revealed that it was a passenger plane.
“The unverified report changed. It was said to be an accident in Lagos. By the time I reached to call our emergency management service, Mr. Oke Osanyintolu confirmed the worst. He was already at the site. A passenger loaded plane had crashed and they were battling a massive crowd and a burning plane,” Fashola explained.
But he thoughtfully captured the last message one of the victims, Ms. Alvana Ojukwu sent to her brother aboard the aircraft. Ojukwu might have hurriedly conducted the text message that read thus: “Take strength in the Lord. A few minutes from now, I will be going to meet the Lord”. As the governor read this portion of his address, it struck not just chords within those who attended the memorial, but also painted a reality of life after death.
Fashola added that thinking of a bright future that awaited Alvana was grievous. He said Alvana had secured admission to pursue postgraduate studies at Oxford University, but her life was cut short. He therefore said: “I stand before you today, united with you in remembrance of your loved ones and united in our collective desire to pay our respects to their memories. I say I am united with you in remembrance because I will also never forget that day. This memorial holds true for me forever in a different way”.
Fashola recalled the tragic story of the Okuchukwu family, who according to him, did not fly the aircraft, but gruesomely shared in the pain. Not just the family alone, the governor explained that the owner of the site of this memorial “had his own share. But the story of that family I will share with you. Electricity had a part to play. A mother and a father in a building close to this site were spending time with their four children.
“The mother was plaiting the hair of the youngest child, a girl. They did not have power. Suddenly, electricity came and the whole community knew. Strangely their flat did not have power. The father instructed the eldest child to get the local electrician to come and solve the problem so that they could iron their uniform in readiness for school the next day, a Monday. The boy took some time returning, so the father sent his younger brother to go and locate him. In pure innocence, the third child, a girl, followed her brother.
“As soon as they stepped out of the building, Dana Air flight 992 descended on their home. They became lost in the massive crowd. The eldest was 11, followed by the nine-year-old and the seven-year-old. Their parents and youngest sibling were consumed by a flight they did not board. God works in wondrous ways. I met them at the site on June 4, 2012. Our paths have remained intertwined since then. They are doing well”.
Though no one came out to identify with them, Fashola said the children “have become a lifetime commitment for my wife and I to ensure that their promise is fulfilled. Their origins are in Enugu State. But their home is Lagos. The home of all Nigerians and this memorial will always remind us about how we met”. He shared the story of the Anyene family, who he said, would live long in the memory. “Six of them perished in the crash. Maimuna the wife and mother of four beautiful children - Kamsiyonna (3), Kainetochi (2), Kaimarachi (2) and Kobichimee (five months), was a graduate of the University of Ibadan before she moved to the United States.
“Her husband, Onyeka Anyene, was a successful lawyer with offices in both Abuja and Lagos. His young family had relocated to the United States and was only visiting Nigeria to attend a wedding. Sisters, Josephine and Jennifer Onita were also just visiting Nigeria for a friend’s wedding. Both girls grew up in Texas attending the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Jesus House where their parents were the founding members”.
Fashola shared a lot of stories at the memorial, which apparently made people unconsciously shed tears. He shared tales of Dunni Doherty who was a bright and determined young woman; Eke Chijioke, one of the crewmembers, who was not even supposed to be on the flight; Vivian Effiong was also a dedicated crewmember and Tosin Anibaba who loved her job and the life she was building with her husband and two-year old daughter.
Indeed, it was a tale of dreams, which were aborted even before takeoff. It was an epilogue of vision, which the crash victims never fulfilled. It was a chapter of ideas, which they never hatched. Painfully, it was a story of how companions and loved ones suddenly parted ways without opportunity to share the last moment together and exchange parting burden of hearts that still clog their thought. It was a tale that triggered diverse issues.
Such issues range from delayed compensation, which Dana Director of Flight Operations; Captain Wason Oscar attributed to double claims from the victims’ family members to low-key protests by those whose properties into which the aircraft crashed. These issues no doubt triggered frustration that some of the victims’ family members expressed during an engagement with some journalists after the cenotaph was unveiled.
One of the victims’ family members, Dr. Ben Anyene protested the continued delay in the payment of full compensation. Anyene therefore decried the non-payment of compensation to the affected families a year after the crash, alleging conspiracy between the airline and the relevant authorities. He cited the official report on the cause of the crash, which had not been released before the airline had hurriedly been allowed to fly again. 

But Anyene canvassed a safe air transport. He explained that what would bring some consolation “to the victims was for the Federal Government and all the relevant authorities to put measures in place to ensure the country’s skies were safe.
“The aviation industry should be serviced by professionals and not just people who do not have the skills and competences. We should do the right thing and ensure that our skies are safe,” he said.

 Likewise, another family member, Ms. Chizoba Mojekwu explained how she lost her sister and eight of her colleagues working at the Central Bank of Nigeria to the plane crash. Mojekwu, the bank’s Head of Human Resources Department, said it had been a huge emotional burden for her. But she said the incident should serve as a wake-up call for those in the appropriate quarters to do the right thing and ensure that such never recurred.
The airline’s Managing Director, Mr. Jackie Hathiramani gave further details about compensation, noting that only 23 families out of the 157 had been paid full compensation of 100,000 dollars each.

 He said all the victims “will be compensated .The only delay in being compensated is the document required by the insurance company, and that is all. The reason is that the insurance company advised us that they had a lot of double claims and they want the authentic families of the victims to get the money. Once they are able to sort that out and have all the required documents, the compensation will be paid”.
The managing director explained diverse issues of double claims, which he said the airline “is not in a position to fast track the process of compensation. The whole responsibility had been entrusted with the insurance company.” But the airline assured that as soon as the family members provided proofs, which the insurer demanded. Once that is done, Hathiramani said every family would be paid full compensation.
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