Again And Again And Again … Never Again

By Dr Arese Carrington
My heart and prayers go out
to the family of victims of the
Dana plane crash and the
nation as a whole. Thoughts
and emotions run through
my mind nineteen to the
dozen as I think of my native
country Nigeria, who like a
prodigal child continues to
squander its opportunity for
the love of money, greed and
corruption. There is a clear
difference between the
inevitable and the avoidable.
A lot of the disasters that are
befalling the nation can be
classified as avoidable. Bad
roads leading to multiple
fatal accidents, poor
maintenance and inadequate
emergency services leading to
fatal crashes, collapsed
buildings due to defective
construction are but a few of
the avoidable tragedies that
have befallen the nation.
I will never forget the plight
of the students who lost their
lives in the ill fated Sosoliso
plane crash on 10th
December 2005 in Port
Harcourt. I keep
remembering when my
husband, Ambassador
Carrington laid the
foundation stone for the
Jesuit College which they
attended on April 1st 1995 in
Abuja and gave an address
titled “Hope reborn on the
field of dreams”. How as he
looked over the empty fields
he saw hope reborn in the
dreams and bright future the
school would offer the
students who attended it, but
he feared what lay in wait for
them once they left the
college and entered into the
harsh reality outside. In his
speech, he said in part:
“But, I must also frankly say,
that as good as my long-
range vision may be, my
vision dims when I try to gaze
beyond the confines of the
school. The horizon is much
hazier, and I don’t think it is
just a case of the lingering
winds of harmattan. Because
the great challenge for all of
us, after the Jesuits have
done their job of bringing in
children from all parts of
Nigeria, educating them,
giving them strong values, is
what happens when they
graduate and leave? What
will the picture be outside of
the walls of this college?
Will the society they return
to be nurturing and
accepting of the values they
learn here?”
“Let us pray that these
students matriculate into a
society in which getting rich
quickly is no longer a
cherished value; in which
corruption is to be shunned
and not envied. A society in
which freedom and
democracy flourish.”
Unfortunately the answer to
his question revealed itself
when those innocent children
became victims of a corrupt
nation that cuts corners
regardless of the cost to its
citizens. A crash that when it
happened lives could have
been saved if proper
emergency and rescue
services where in place. After
all did Captain Sullenberger
of U.S Airways not land a
plane on the Hudson river in
New York and all its
passengers were rescued?
We remember the students
not as individual but en mass
as a group but to their loved
ones, friends and family,
their names are forever
individually engraved in their
hearts while that pain
continues to linger on. On
the other hand we remember
the names of the VIPs
because theirs are headlined
in the media when they are a
victim of a disaster. Their
positions are then filled with
new people who promise
heaven and earth.
In our quiet moments let us
examine our hearts and
minds and ensure we are not
guilty of omission or
commission. In a democracy
it is the right and duty of the
people to make certain that
those governing are
accountable to those being
governed. The people’s
fundamental basic human
rights for life, liberty and
freedom must be put above
corruption and greed. Some
of the people in the building
the Dana plane crashed into
may never have flown before,
living on the precipice of
poverty but became victims
and lost their right to life.
Again and Again and Again
each time there is a
catastrophic disaster we hear
the words: “Never again will
this be allowed to happen”.
Let us stop kidding ourselves,
unless it is backed up by the
necessary action, such as
accountability in all sectors,
good governance,
transparency and an end to
corruption or at least
consequences for
corruption….the sad truth is
“Never Again” becomes
empty words.

#CONSENSUS 2015