Families Of Victims Of Dana Air Mishap Are Entitled To More Than $100,000 By Femi Falana

Last week, the Management of Dana
Airline announced that
compensation of $100,000 would
be paid to the dependants of each
of the passengers killed in the tragic
crash which occured in Lagos on
Sunday, June 3, 2012 in accordance
with the provisions of the law. Since
the statement does not represent
the correct state of the law it is
pertinent to state as follows:
(1) The said sum of $100,000 is the
first tier payment otherwise known
as Special Drawing Right under
Article 17 of the Montreal
Convention. It is not an extra
payment but a strict liability amount
payable under the Convention
which has been domesticated in
Nigeria.
(2) The dependants of the deceased
are also entitled to special and
general damages which may not be
less than N100 million per
passenger depending on the
responsibilities borne by each of
them in their lifetime. Such amount
of money for loss of expectation of
life is payable by Dana Airline for
gross negligence arising from the
plane with defective dual engines
and the Federal Government for
failure to enforce the relevant
regulations, failure to provide
emergency landing for the plane
and the inexplicable delay in
providing the fire service equipment
and medical services and other acts
of gross negligence which led to
the avoidable death of the
passengers and the crew.
(2) The dependants of the
members of the public who were
killed at the site of the crash are
equally entitled to a greater amount
of compensatory damages because
the deprivation of the fundamental
right to life of such persons is illegal
and unconstitutional.
(3) The owners and tenants of the
houses that were burnt or touched
by the fire that gutted the aircraft
are entitled to have them rebuilt or
replaced by Dana Airline and the
Federal Government. I have
confirmed that the provision of
dehumanising accommodation for
them in dormitories at a refugee
camp at Agege in the outskirts of
Lagos has increased the mental and
psychological trauma unleashed on
such innocent victims. If the
accident had occured in Ikoyi or
Victoria Island would the Lagos
State Government have taken the
victims to a refugee camp at Agege?
As the occupants are entitled to
have their houses rebuilt they
should not be kept in transit
camps but in hotels or decent
houses whose expenses should be
borne by Dana Airline and the
Federal Government. In other
countries passengers whose flights
are cancelled are always lodged in
hotels by defaulting airlines. Why
then should the occupants of the
houses destroyed by the Dana
inferno be turned to beggars or
refugees as a result of the
avoidable tragedy?
In view of the foregoing the Federal
Government and the Management
of Dana Airline should embark on
the payment of just and fair
compensation to the dependants of
the passengers and crew in the
aircraft, the members of the public
who were killed as well as the
people displaced as a result of the
crash. Having requested the Lagos
State Chief Coroner to set up an
inquest into the tragic crash we
shall press for payment of adequate
reparation to all the families of the
crash victims by the Federal
Government and Dana Airline. Just
recently the Coroner directed the
Dangote Sugar Company to pay
compensation to the dependants of
those who were killed in the ghastly
motor accident caused by the
driver of one of its tankers on the
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on August
16, 2010.