God Save Nigeria
God, Save Nigeria. It's been a very sad weekend. First a plane from the fleet of one of the nations leading airlines crashes after just a few minutes in flight and as if that wasn't enough, the First lady of the Federation dies in faraway Spain after undergoing a tummy tuck.
The annnoying thing for me in all of this is the fact that it took nearly a whole day to find the wreck of the plane, bringing to the fore the extent of the incompetence and ineptitude of the agencies tasked with the effort, The Nigeria Police, as they are wont to be called (never did make sense to me why the "n" was omitted after Nigeria), NEMA (Nigerian Emergency Management Agency) and all the other agencies that were involved.
There was way too much misinformation, worst of it being the fact that some sources claimed that anout 50 people had survived or been rescued when at that time the exact location of the crash was unknown.
The Honourable Minister for Information and National Orientation, whom up until the time I greatly respected, then proceeded to make the most irrational decision ever by calling for a complete shutdown of operations of DAAR Communications, the Independent Media House that was first on the scene of the disaster, saying that they took footage of dismembered body parts when the nes had not been broken to the families and for declaring that there could not be any survivors before getting clearance from the government, which the NBC quickly enforced.
I thought they were supposed to be reporting news as it unfolded. What were they supposed to say seeing as the bulk of the plane was lodged deep in the earth and what was visiblew of it was strewn across the country side. Were they to have lied, would that have helped the plight of the families of the victims? I don't know.
It's all so very sad and it reminds us of how unprepared we are for emergencies or disasters, thank God we don't suffer natural disasters like Tsunamis and eathquakes because there would be no hope. I guess it's also part of why were generally so complacent and I even dare say "stupid". For it was such hardships that forced nations such as Japan to become the technological giants they are today.
On the issue of the Late First Lady, what can I say, I guess she wanted to look her best for her 60th birthday next month. I presume that she just did not come out of anaesthesia, probably becuause of her age and other factors too numerous to mention, one being that she was asthmatic, and I'm not even gonna go there. Probably if the anaesthesia had been administed locally, she might have survived, but then that's just my thinking, and besides, what do I know.
The bottomline is just that God should help us out of the quagmire in which we currently reside as a nation. We need The hand of God, good governance, excemplary leadership, a strong national vision, hunger for knowledge, justice and truth. The list goes on and on. But I know that all will be well. In the words of Lagbaja "Naija must sweet again". We shall overcome.
The annnoying thing for me in all of this is the fact that it took nearly a whole day to find the wreck of the plane, bringing to the fore the extent of the incompetence and ineptitude of the agencies tasked with the effort, The Nigeria Police, as they are wont to be called (never did make sense to me why the "n" was omitted after Nigeria), NEMA (Nigerian Emergency Management Agency) and all the other agencies that were involved.
There was way too much misinformation, worst of it being the fact that some sources claimed that anout 50 people had survived or been rescued when at that time the exact location of the crash was unknown.
The Honourable Minister for Information and National Orientation, whom up until the time I greatly respected, then proceeded to make the most irrational decision ever by calling for a complete shutdown of operations of DAAR Communications, the Independent Media House that was first on the scene of the disaster, saying that they took footage of dismembered body parts when the nes had not been broken to the families and for declaring that there could not be any survivors before getting clearance from the government, which the NBC quickly enforced.
I thought they were supposed to be reporting news as it unfolded. What were they supposed to say seeing as the bulk of the plane was lodged deep in the earth and what was visiblew of it was strewn across the country side. Were they to have lied, would that have helped the plight of the families of the victims? I don't know.
It's all so very sad and it reminds us of how unprepared we are for emergencies or disasters, thank God we don't suffer natural disasters like Tsunamis and eathquakes because there would be no hope. I guess it's also part of why were generally so complacent and I even dare say "stupid". For it was such hardships that forced nations such as Japan to become the technological giants they are today.
On the issue of the Late First Lady, what can I say, I guess she wanted to look her best for her 60th birthday next month. I presume that she just did not come out of anaesthesia, probably becuause of her age and other factors too numerous to mention, one being that she was asthmatic, and I'm not even gonna go there. Probably if the anaesthesia had been administed locally, she might have survived, but then that's just my thinking, and besides, what do I know.
The bottomline is just that God should help us out of the quagmire in which we currently reside as a nation. We need The hand of God, good governance, excemplary leadership, a strong national vision, hunger for knowledge, justice and truth. The list goes on and on. But I know that all will be well. In the words of Lagbaja "Naija must sweet again". We shall overcome.
posted by Luminus at
8:26 PM
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