Nigeria air crash is sadly routine

ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) -- I knew what I would find at the crash site but the sight of it still made my stomach heave.

I've read about plane crashes and seen them on television and as a correspondent in Nigeria I've had to write about several. But until Sunday I had never been to a crash site.

All that was left of the Boeing 737, operated by domestic carrier ADC, was the tail fin and a small section of the cabin, wedged into a tree.

I stared at the smoldering shreds of bodies, clothing and metal strewn across a charred cornfield where the plane came down, killing 96 people.

Another tragedy, another round of pledges to improve safety.

My experience in the 18 months I've lived here has not been encouraging. It's not just the disasters. The whole business of flying is fraught with difficulties.

In July last year, an Air France plane collided with a herd of cows, killing seven of them, while taxiing on the runway at Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil industry hub.

My most surreal moment was when I watched ground staff at Abuja airport pushing a Boeing 737-300 with their hands.

The refueling truck had broken down and was blocking the wing. No one was able to fix the truck and there was no equipment to tow it out of the way.

In the end, airport staff resorted to pushing the plane.

It worked. The 56-ton behemoth inched backwards and minutes later we were free of the offending truck and flying to Lagos, albeit four hours late.

Aviation is one of many sectors in Nigeria that suffer from the effects of corruption, mismanagement and neglect during three decades of almost continuous military dictatorship.

Africa's most populous nation and its top exporter of crude oil, Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999. For the past five years its revenues have ballooned thanks to rising oil prices but its infrastructure remains largely derelict.

The number of air passengers has more than doubled to over 8 million in the past seven years but most of the commercial fleet is over 20 years old.

African skies are the world's most dangerous, accounting for a third of accidents but just 4.5 percent of global traffic, according to the African Airlines Association. Yet even by these standards, Nigeria is a risky place to fly.

On October 22 last year, a plane crashed in the countryside shortly after take-off from Lagos, killing 117 people. Seven weeks later, another jet crashed while trying to land at Port Harcourt.

More than half of the 106 victims were children going home from boarding school for the December break. Their parents watched the plane burn on the runway because there were no functioning fire engines.

After those two tragedies, President Olusegun Obasanjo temporarily grounded several airlines while their fleets were audited and sacked senior aviation officials.

A new civil aviation bill is going through parliament and modernization works are under way at several of the country's aging airport.

Despite these efforts, flying in Nigeria is unpredictable.

I've lost count of the number of times I've sat on a plane circling above Abuja for an hour because of a "VIP movement". This means the president or maybe a state governor is flying in or out and while that happens no one else can take off or land.

Then there are the fuel shortages. Despite exporting about 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, Nigeria cannot meet its own needs in fuel so it has to import.

Dozens of flights were canceled one morning when I needed to fly from Lagos to Abuja to cover, ironically, an aviation conference.

When I managed to find a flight, it first went 400 km further north to Kano because of the fuel problem.

I arrived at the conference four hours late. The chief executive of the sponsor airline didn't make it on time for his speech either.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 31.10.2006 10:26

Abraxas  Villager

# 2 Hi, folks! Hia-hia-hia-hia! Ho-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! This sounds more like something out of the Flintstones (a la http://www.cartoonnetworkhq.com Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas| 31.10.2006 10:49

Nkire  Villager

# 3 Abraxas: I was expecting to read you typical “funny” heckling response of yawns and other assorted comedic theatrics, what happened? After all, the lady was describing the effects on the ground of a government manned by the geniuses of Nigeria, abi? Lot’s of fodder there for theatrical and comedic material, don’t you think? Please don’t disappoint, you’ve been quite “good” off late. Please bring in more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs and the likes. One must never underestimate the value of a class clown! Thanks Posted by Nkire| 31.10.2006 11:10

fatima  Villager

# 4 it is such a great disaster for our great cpountry to suffer such terrible state of its aviation. but all thesame i pray vehemently that the almighty God in his most infinite mercies to look upon our country with piety and save us. Posted by fatima| 31.10.2006 11:15

ELAWALO  Villager

# 5 Fatima, Me too I pray that God's power will meet those words of yours, and we will have a miracle. However let us not fool ourselves the NIGERIAN QUAGMIRE requires Action Courage and Commitment & Compassion. You and me need to be involved. The battle to revamp our country's fortunes is in the MINDS OF NIGERIANS. ARE WE SINCERELY READY FOR POSITIVE CHANGE ?? Not the kind of heckling and name calling blaming that happens after unfortunate events. May the departed souls NOT die in vain ! AMEN. Posted by ELAWALO| 31.10.2006 11:29

nirenen  Villager

# 6 My most surreal moment was when I watched ground staff at Abuja airport pushing a Boeing 737-300 with their hands. The refueling truck had broken down and was blocking the wing. No one was able to fix the truck and there was no equipment to tow it out of the way. In the end, airport staff resorted to pushing the plane. It worked. The 56-ton behemoth inched backwards and minutes later we were free of the offending truck and flying to Lagos, albeit four hours late. Typical of a molue airport, molue government and a molue people. Everything molue, jalekuen. And we call ourselves the 'giant' of africa. - Nosa Posted by nirenen| 31.10.2006 11:36

Abraxas  Villager

# 7 Hi, Nkire! Thanks for the insult. I hope you feel refreshed now. Yeye dey boom, well, well! Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ARAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas| 31.10.2006 11:42

Auspicious  Villager

# 8 Na ba force to be like 'dem'? Na ba force? Na by force to get hiapot karey eromplane put for inside? Na by force to fly to con dey drop like chiken from sky evri next tomoro?? Na by force, wen dem talk say we get am for Juju ('Igbe' for Yoruba), wey man fit take fly like winch from Ilesa to Sokoto come back before night turn to day? Na by force? Na by force to get motorway, carry moto drive on top am con dey dodge pot-'ole for road like say pesin na Maradona for road? Na by force make man dey risk ein life wen befor-befor, man dey take ein two lef' leg waka from Abakaliki to Enugu, we been dey carey donkey waka? Na by force to get democracy, karey box around like say pesin na omo-elepa (g-nut seller), dey rig, dey fight, dey kill awasef ..wen we fit jus' dey do as we dey do befor-befor dem karey demokrasi come awa side for Obodo Africa? Na by force? Na by force make we remen for dis awa Nijeriya, wen all man fit jus' go mind ein own for ein korner? Na by force to get Gomina and President dem? Wai all we nor jus' fit siddon for our hut dey do awa own tin? Se na by force? I say, na by force?!? Na by force to be like Oyibo wey know wetin eim want, wen we nor fit do all dem dey do like dem dey do am? Nor be by force ooo, my people! I say nor be by force. Oyibo talk say, "what is worth doing, is worth doing well"! Na we biko! I say na we bikoooo! Auspicious. Posted by Auspicious| 31.10.2006 11:47

akuluouno  Villager

# 9 God. As a fanatical Christian, Did I hear somebody say God? Well he is omnimerciful and omniforgiving, if not! Father forgive them for they are Nigerians whom I pleaded with you during creation to bless abundantly to show the world what will happen to a group when they depart from your ways Amen. Recall oh Father that other nations were envious until you warned them to be patient and see the calibre of people (leaders) you would use to populate the country. Amen. Having prayed so, I wish to submit that this lady has neither succeeded in capturing the state of aviation in Nigeria vividly nor copiously. Like an ice berg, she has just shown us what is on the surface. Anyway we leave that until we all meet in Phillipi. The state of aviation in Nigeria represents a metaphor for all that is wrong and have gone bad for a long time. It is representative of the deep mire, rot, and morass to which Nigeria has sunk, while we the stakeholders fiddle. Was it not the man who housed an ant infested faggot that gave out an invitation to lizards? The lizards have indeed accepted same and concerning the prophecy over future crashes, like the yankees say, we aint seen nothing yet. The blackbox have been recovered sans the voice recorder. Thus even with the aircraft literally down, the usual Nigeria game still goes on. Posted by akuluouno| 31.10.2006 11:48

Nkire  Villager

# 10 Come on now, Abraxas! I meant no harm, you know me, there is no mean bone in my body. It is just that the heckling and the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs and the likes have been the stock-in-trade of your write-ups lately. Do you disagree or is it just that the heckling is reserved for some special topics about some individuals or group, may be not, uhuuuu? Look, I was just reminding you that all the theatrics have been providing comic relief, at least to yours truly. No need to curse me out, I am just a fan. In fact me thinks that you have a talent, of the njakiri (comedy) kind, that you can take to greater heights, if you so choose, off course. Anyways, I hope we are all good now. After all fans should be appreciated and not scorned, abi? Posted by Nkire| 31.10.2006 12:24

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