7 August 2008
editorial
Abuja could soon descend to the ordinariness that permeates Nigeria. Our most modern city lacks basic emergency facilities. The collapse of the shopping mall last week confirms that administrators of Abuja equate its glitters with modernity.
The seat of the Federal Government depends on construction companies for rescue services. Yet annually, we budget billions of Naira for the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. What does NEMA do?
If there is an air crash, NEMA laments that it does not have facilities. When buildings collapse, it still has no facilities to pull people out of the rubble. Sadly, bodies like NEMA are the excuse for the neglect visited on the Fire Service.
How can the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, explain this incident? Anyone who passed near the monstrous four-storey that collapsed would notice it. It was too big to be ignored. It shouted at you with its size, the fact that it sprawled across a good part of the street it occupied, and was already adorning a pink roof.
It called attention to itself. A building that was to accommodate more than 100 shops could not have been less prominent. The FCTA, which keeps giving the impression it makes an effort to run this city, wants to absolve itself from the incident. It will have to convince more people, in the wake of its deteriorating services, and the type of inept explanations it provided.
An uncertain number of people died in the incident. As the blames started flying, FCTA suspended two of its officials, set up an investigation, and filed a lame defence -- the construction was illegal and it had told the builders so to no effect.
Ordinarily, this would have been laughable but for the loss of lives. The FCTA is famous for its accelerated demolition exercises, which ignores court orders and fast-paced stoppage of constructions it considers illegal.
Neither happened in this case. FCTA produced these accounts: it noticed two years ago that the construction extended to a residential plot beside it, though the building approval was for only one plot. What did it do?
FCTA acted quickly. It issued a "stop work" order on 13 August, followed with a "quit notice" on 20th September all in 2006. By 4 August 2007, a "demolition notice" went to the developer. Confident that he was an exception to the rules of FCTA, he went on with his work, causing loss of uncertain number of lives, one year after the FCTA "demolition notice".
Did FCTA issue these notices without intending to monitor compliance? Is this the usual practice in FCTA or there was a reason for this to be an exception? Hopefully, the investigations would answer these questions, and more.
All those who think of grandiose projects in Abuja, those who think it is haven from neglected Nigeria, must start thinking of practical measures to make Nigeria safe. The collapsed building and the tardiness in saving those it trapped question the modernity of Abuja and Nigeria's concern for its citizens.
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I agree completely with the views expressed in the editorial. I was born in Nigeria and I went to University in Nigeria before I moved to the United States some 14 years ago. I have watched in profound astonishment as the entity called Nigeria keeps deteriorating. Some people believe that Nigeria is developing because most people have cell phones or have access to one at the call centers. This is only one of the parameters that some apologists of so called Nigerian development have held on to. In sharp contrast to these beliefs Nigeria in my opinion is a dying nation. There is no future for Nigeria. A nation that accepts corruption as a way of life can never prosper. Nigeria is the world's fifth largest producer of crude oil yet we have nothing to show for it. We call ourself the giant of Africa, yet we cannot boost of basic infrastructure such as quality education, electricity, water, phone services, healthcare, roads etc etc We hear about countries like the United Arab Emirates notably Dhubai and Abu Dhabi. These countries are developing at astronomical proportions and can boost of the same standard of living as the rest of the developed world of North America, Western Europe and some parts of Asia. The mainstay of Dhubai and Abu Dhabi's economies is crude oil. The difference between them and Nigeria is that their ruling class is not as corrupt as those of Nigeria. Secondly, they believe in developing their countries as opposed to looting their country. Dhubai has become a top destination for people all over the world. The author of the editorial pointed out the annual budget allocated to NEMA yet NEMA has never been able to respond to any disaster. I am sure that it will be impossible to account for what those funds were used for. Nigeria has a culture of self aggrandizement. Political office is not for the public good, it is an avenue to get rich quick at the expense of the citizens. The most incomprehensible thing is that these sociopathic public officials visit civilized societies of the United States and Europe. In fact, most of their families live in these places. They are the first to brag about how things work in those places, yet they tend to forget that those societies did not get where they are today through wishful thinking. When are we going to realize that the future of Nigeria is in our hands. Unless we desist from this culture of gross corruption and looting the entity called Nigeria will die a natural death. Unless we start holding people accountable through punitive action for an acts of corruption we will not make any progress. Nigeria is the only place that public afficials know with certainty that they can get away with murder. Nigeria is the only country that does not have a national airline yet we call ourself the giant of Africa. The mortality rate across the board in Nigeria is the highest any where in the world. The ruling class is not ashamed of running to Europe or United States of America and now to a lesser extent South Africa for medical attention. Why can't we build up Nigeria for the good of all Nigerians. These psychophants in public office should realize that natural resources such as Crude oil are finite. What is going to happen when crude oil dries up. We need to ask ourselves these questions. These ruling class, public office holders, politicians and their cronies that have contributed or are still contributing to the death of Nigeria must not forget that they will answer to GOD on judgement day for the deaths of so many poor people that were denied any opportunity due to their actions. They can revel in their materialism, but the day of reckoning is coming.