Category: Editorial

• We congratulate the exemplar of integrity and a man of many parts

His name is a byword for integrity, professionalism and civility. A man of many parts, Dr Christopher Kolade, is noted for consistently demonstrating and promoting these values. His 90th birthday on December 28, 2022, highlighted the virtues.

Whether as a teacher, broadcaster, administrator, boardroom giant, diplomat, academic or public servant, he showed an example. He was born in Erin-Oke, in present-day Osun State.  After his education at Government College, Ibadan, and Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone, he worked as an education officer in Nigeria during the colonial era.

He later entered broadcasting, and rose to the position of director-general of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in a media career that spanned 18 years, from 1960 to 1978.

His time at Cadbury Nigeria Plc, a food, sweets and drink company, where he was managing director/chief executive officer and later chairman, showed that his media success was no fluke. The period was regarded as a golden era of the company.

A champion of good corporate governance, he shared his knowledge and experience with students at the Lagos Business School where he taught Corporate Governance, Leadership and Human Resources Management, initially from 1995 to 2002.

When he served as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2007, it was yet another terrain for him. He was no less successful as a diplomat. The country benefitted from his image as a man of integrity.

Interestingly, he returned to teaching at the Lagos Business School after his ambassadorial stint. He has been quoted as saying “I love to teach and if it is one more person I can convert to my way of thinking, then it would be well worth it.”

The Christopher Kolade Foundation (CKF), which he founded in 1997, focuses on education, particularly girl-child education (specifically science, technology, engineering, mathematics, music and agriculture), leadership and governance education, Christian and theological education and education in inter-faith relations. It is a commendable approach to giving back to society.

It is a measure of his connection with education that he became Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, and Chancellor of McPherson University, Ogun State.

Professionally, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters, the Nigerian Institute of Management of which he was President from 1985 to 1988, and the Institute of Personnel Management in Nigeria where he served as President from 1988 to 1993.

He has also promoted business integrity in Nigeria through his chairmanship of Integrity Organisation Ltd and The Convention on Business Integrity.

His sense of integrity is driven by his religious conviction. “Many people,” he said, “would avoid doing certain things if they think they would be caught or if those things were to be in the open. That is precisely the point with me. I believe everything is in the open with God.”

In 2000, he deservedly received the Nigerian national honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), for his contributions to the development of the country.  

His badge of integrity earned him an appointment as Chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme Board, in January 2012, under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. He resigned in 2013 as he approached his 81st birthday, saying “I am now old and I need to wind down some activities that take some of my energy.”

His thought on leadership is relevant as Nigeria struggles to find the right leaders to drive development. “Leadership is a responsibility,” he said. “And unless you are carrying out that responsibility, you are failing as a leader. Unless you know your responsibility and achieve the result expected from your leadership, you are a failure.”

• Deaths at Calabar Carnival avoidable; organisers of crowd-pulling events must ensure such never happen again

Conceived by the Governor Donald Duke administration, Calabar Carnival started in 2004 as a way of promoting tourism and improving the economy of Cross River State. The carnival, also known as “Africa’s Biggest Street Party” or the “Pride of Nigeria”, is an annual event held in December as part of activities to mark Christmas celebration. Elenda Osima-Dokubo, former Executive Secretary, Cross River State  Carnival Commission, describes it as “the carnival aimed to include more aspects of local heritage and culture and at the same time strengthen the capacity of the locals to participate in an economically beneficial way.”

Calabar Carnival used to be a month-long celebration until the advent of the incumbent Governor Ben Ayade administration which reduced its duration to two weeks. The carnival has always been entertaining and colorful, with different competitions and awards of huge cash prizes.

So, when last year’s edition began, it was its usual entertaining and colourful best, providing the spectators with memories that would linger, until a motorist spoilt the fun. He broke into the barricade after his vehicle reportedly lost control on December 27, killing seven persons on the spot and injuring more than 20 others. The bikers activity for the day was subsequently suspended.

Governor Ayade visited the injured at the Navy Hospital in Calabar the following day, where he assured that security would be strengthened for the carnival by drafting soldiers in to assist the police. “We’re here in Navy Hospital, Calabar, to see some of the accident victims from yesterday. We had a situation in which a driver, whose identity is yet to be unravelled properly, got himself forcefully into the carnival route which was properly barricaded and well-policed, and in the course of being on high speed, missed his way and ran into the watching public,” the governor said.

He added that “As a result of that, we had some loss of lives, and we are here to see those in the hospital to show the concern of the government.” A visibly angry Ayade threatened that any vehicle which broke into the barricade again would be impounded and auctioned.

We can understand his pain and anger. How on earth could people who left their homes to catch some fun as part of activities to bid the outgoing year goodbye never return to their homes alive? How could people have lost limbs and other parts of their bodies for going to watch an event which had the potential of advertising the state’s potential? The relatives and dependents of the dead and the injured, who escaped with permanent disabilities would not forget last year’s edition of the carnival in a hurry. What they had hoped to provide them fond memories would continue to be sad reminder of their now costly decision to venture to be part of the crowd to watch the event.

The government should probe the circumstances under which the errant motorist who rammed into the crowd managed to break into what was hitherto thought to be a properly barricaded and well policed carnival route. In like manner, it should make him undergo compulsory mental test to ascertain whether he is normal. He should thereafter be prosecuted to serve as deterrence to others. Not only did his irresponsible behaviour kill the joy of people who had thronged out to catch a glimpse of the event, it also led to the untimely deaths of at least eight others. These are grievous issues that cannot be glossed over.

It was a sad way of resuming an annual event that was held last in 2019 and had to be suspended by the state house of assembly thereafter, following the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. COVID-19 led to various restrictions like social distancing which would have been impossible to observe if the carnival was not suspended. We should not forget that 2020 also witnessed the violent #EndSARS protests in the country over police brutality. Organising such a crowd-pulling event during the period of social distancing, or less than two months after the #EndSARS protests would have posed serious health and security risks, respectively, and portrayed the state as insensitive to the global or national mood.

We commiserate with the families of those who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident and wish those receiving treatment in the hospital speedy recovery. We also suggest that the government assist the relatives of the dead as well as those injured, to cushion the effects of the accident on them.

We hope the governor and his successors would ensure that the December 27, 2022 accident, which Gov. Ayade described as “a watershed in our carnival history” would be the first and last of such. It is their duty to do this. Inded, the governor has promised that “It will never happen again.”  It shouldn’t.

• This is an area we must work on if we are serious about diversification.

President and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the African Export–Import Bank, Afrixembank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, would last week remind on why the country’s quest for economic diversification has remained a non-starter. At the commissioning of the Africa Quality Assurance Centre (AQAC) in Sagamu, Ogun State, he told his audience that the country not only records an annual loss estimated at $700 million from rejected agro-produce, but also that some 76 per cent of the entire exports from the continent suffer the same fate.

A similar claim was made by Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), in August, 2021. According to her, over 76 per cent of Nigeria’s exported agricultural commodities were being rejected by the European Union (EU) for not meeting required standards. And that came long after the highly publicised EU ban on Nigeria’s dried beans of June 2015 on the same general premise that it contained high level of pesticide considered dangerous to human health.

Interestingly, that particular ban was extended by three years. Seven years on, nothing appears to have changed in terms of building the requisite capacity, equipping the relevant institutions not to talk of nurturing such fundamental attitudes on the imperatives of quality and standard that the rest of the world have long taken for granted.

Yet, we can count nearly a dozen agencies, all of them claiming to have one or two things to do with either agro-export business or export business in general. From the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) said to be in charge of certifying all agricultural produce leaving the country in line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) protocols; we even had a Federal Produce Inspection Service – a department in the trade and commerce ministry specifically charged with grading agricultural produce, also for export.

Interestingly, President Muhammadu Buhari only just last week transmitted a new bill – the Federal Produce Inspection Service Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage – apparently to revamp the agency. Of course, there is omnibus Nigerian Exports Promotion Council which came into being as far back as 1976, ostensibly to promote our exports; so also is the Nigerian Customs Service.

Yet, such things as basic procedures and knowledge of the standards required by different market jurisdictions not only continue to prove elusive but are more often than not, observed in the breach. That some 76 percent of our exports continue to suffer rejection in the global market cannot be anything but a most unflattering scorecard on their performance.

Like the typical Nigerian problem, the issue is certainly multi-layered. Some so-called exporters in their desperation are known to cut corners in their bid to beat the typical red tape created by the multiplicity of agencies. With many corrupt officials in the chain willing to act as facilitators, the cycle is all but complete. Only after the cargoes are rejected and the nation’s image needlessly soiled does the real cost of the road not taken begin to dawn on everyone.

The other level of the problem is institutional. There are too many agencies, which although claim to be doing different things, are basically duplicating the same tasks. It is about time government either collapsed or streamlined their activities. Another sad point to note is that many have actually left their role as enablers to become ends unto themselves, hence acting as cogs in the wheel of progress. In short, the sector can do with a new standard operating procedure.

Of course, the government might want to consider the idea of a certificate of origin as an attestation to quality and source – a seal or insurance of sorts – to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff. Just as important; it is about time export business – whether agro-based or general exports – is steered away from the current enervating path that has tended to reduce it to a slapdash affair by those agencies. If only for the famed potential of the non-oil exports sector, the country most certainly deserves a better deal. 

Curtains call for exceptional pontiff and doctrinaire

Former Pope Benedict XVI, who led the Catholic Church for some eight years before stepping down due to failing health, died on New Year eve at 95 years. Benedict was pope from April 19, 2005 until his resignation on February 28, 2013, being the first pontiff to quit in about 600 years since Gregory XII did in 1415. He passed away at 09:34 (08:34 GMT) penultimate Saturday in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery at the Vatican that had been his residence in retirement, and was laid to rest last Thursday. He was the first pope to have his funeral presided over by his successor.

The German-born pope emeritus, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, had been living a quiet life in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds since his shock decision to step down in February 2013. His health had been declining over time, with the Vatican making it known penultimate Wednesday that his situation had worsened and his successor, Pope Francis, calling on Catholics worldwide to pray for him. “I want to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict who sustains the church in his silence. He is very ill,” Francis had said at the end of his last General Audience for 2022 on December 28, adding: “Let’s ask the Lord to comfort him and sustain him in this testimony of love to the church to the very end.” Benedict’s death brings to an end an unprecedented situation whereby two pontiffs – Benedict and Francis – co-existed within the walls of the tiny city-state.

In his first public comments following Pope Benedict’s death, incumbent Pope Francis called him a gift to the church, describing him as a noble and kind man. The press office of the Holy See said the pope emeritus had in the afternoon on December 28, 2022, received the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery at the end of Holy Mass. At a press briefing in the Vatican on the demise, a spokesman said Benedict specifically asked that everything, including the funeral, be marked by simplicity just as he lived his life. And he had his wish maximally. Following his death, the body of the pope emeritus laid in state from last Monday at Saint Peter’s Basilica for Catholic faithful to pay their respects. His funeral mass on Thursday was led by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, after which the body borne in a plain wooden casket was taken to the Vatican Grottos where it was laid to rest.

Eulogies from spiritual and secular leaders trailed the emeritus pope. Pope Francis paid tribute to his “dearest” predecessor, emphasising “his sacrifices offered for the good of the church.” King Charles III, who is the titular head of the Anglican Communion, said he received the news of Pope Benedict’s death “with deep sadness” and recalled “with fondness” meeting him during a visit to the Vatican in 2009. “I also recall his constant efforts to promote peace and goodwill to all people, and to strengthen the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church,” he said. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said Pope Benedict was “one of the greatest theologians of his age – committed to the faith of the Church and stalwart in its defence.” United States President Joe Biden, who is the second Catholic in history to serve in that office, said Pope Benedict “will be remembered as a renowned theologian, with a lifetime of devotion to the church, guided by his principles and faith.” Among many others more, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari described the late pope as one who was admired globally for his selfless leadership, renowned learning as a theologian, and dedication to advance inter-faith dialogue and peace.

Born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany in 1927, Benedict was 78 years when he became pope in April 2005 – one of the oldest popes ever elected, succeeding Pope John Paul II. But he  stunned the Catholic Church as well as non-Catholics around the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced plans to step down as pontiff, citing his “advanced age.” In his farewell address, he promised to stay “hidden” from the world, although he continued to speak out on religious matters in the years following his retirement. Before his papacy, he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising (1977-1982), Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino (1977-1993), Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1982-2005), Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni (1993-2005), Cardinal Bishop of Ostia (2002-2005), Dean of the College of Cardinals (2002-2005) and many more. 

For much of his papacy, the Catholic Church faced allegations, legal claims and official reports into decades of child abuse by priests. Early in 2022, he himself acknowledged that errors were made in the handling of abuse cases while he was archbishop at Munich. 

The emeritus pope was ordained a priest in 1951, made a cardinal in 1977, and later served as chief theological adviser to Pope John Paul II. Before papacy, his reputation rested on his tenure as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the office that Vatican says oversees “the doctrine on the faith and morals throughout the Catholic world.” Ratzinger became known as ‘Cardinal No,’ stemming from his efforts to crack down on the liberation theology movement, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and calls to ordain women as priests. He was regarded as highly conservative, but many have argued he was misunderstood considering he was a contributor to the great Vatican II where he held positions that could be deemed ‘progressive,’ and was only concerned to shield the church’s teachings against ‘radical progressivism.’ One of the hallmarks of Benedict’s papacy was his emphasis on traditional values such as sanctity of life, marriage and the family – values he strongly defended against what he saw as forces of secularism and moral relativism.

With the death of Benedict XVI, the Catholic world lost a highly reputed theologian and doctrinal intellectual. But like the Vatican News reported it, he only returned to the Father’s house.

The story of two teenagers, 17-year-old Precious Ikechukwu and 19-year-old Theresa Obam, who allegedly volunteered their eggs for harvest without the knowledge of their parents or guardians, is a wake-up call for relevant authorities in Nigeria to put in place laws for such medical procedure. While the parents and guardians of the victims are claiming illegal organ harvest, the hospital, the deal broker, and the police are saying the harvesting of eggs did not offend any existing law.

We call for a thorough investigation by the office of the Inspector-General of Police, and National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) that the matter has also been reported to. Organ harvesting has become a burgeoning criminal activity in modern times, and we doubt if there are modern laws to deal with the challenge in Nigeria. Such laws would provide the protocols for legitimate organ donation and stiff penalties for breaches, especially against under-aged persons.

The incident involving the two teenagers shows the danger with the existing laws. According to the hospital accused of the organ harvest, “each of them was given a registration and data form to fill where they wrote down their relevant biodata, including date of birth and age. From the information, both of them were well above 18 years.” From the foregoing it appears that the hospital relied merely on the information supplied by the teenagers to harvest their eggs, and such potential laxity would be avoided if there are relevant laws and protocols.

Relevant authorities also need to investigate the role of the broker of the harvesting, one Mrs Adeleke Blessing. The lady who took advantage of her worshipping in the same church with the teenagers, had this to say as her defence: “The two girls volunteered to donate their eggs to the hospital after listening to her phone conversation with a doctor and, in return, they were compensated with N100,000.00 each.” And as confirmed by Mrs Adeleke, she collected N20,000.00 for brokering the deal.

However a subsequent investigation in another hospital after one of the girls fell sick shortly after “revealed that their liver, uterus, urinary bladder, kidney, spleen, gall bladder were damaged as result of their ovaries/eggs, about (46 ovaries) that were harvested in the hospital at Abeokuta.” If those findings are true, then there is the need to also investigate the medical competency of the Redwood Hospital in Abeokuta where the medical procedure took place.

Perhaps the governments of Lagos and Ogun states should collaborate to ensure that justice is served in the matter. They should also find out whether illegal organ harvesting has become a common phenomenon within the states. For, if the two teenagers could volunteer for a paltry fee to allow the harvesting of eggs from their ovaries, which the accused persons claim is legitimate, unscrupulous hospitals may also be harvesting organs, if there are no laws prohibiting such practice.

On its part, the Lagos State government, as has been the practice under this democratic dispensation, can champion the modernisation of laws dealing with organ harvesting, and modern slavery or related issues. There is also the urgent need to inculcate personal health in the education curriculum of primary schools across states in Nigeria. While greed may have played a part in the unfortunate experience of the two teenagers, they definitely didn’t know the potential health hazards such an endeavour could trigger.  

The police authorities must also investigate whether there was a hasty clearance by those who investigated the matter, and if so, what prompted that? The police and other law enforcement agencies must also begin to develop the needed competence to deal with the potential cases of organ harvesting and related crimes.

This celebrity had the stamp of immortality. He captured this in a striking way, saying, “I used to go out and people said Pelé! Pelé! Pelé! Pelé! all over the world, but no one remembers Edson. Edson is the person who has the feelings, who has the family, who works hard, and Pelé is the idol. Pelé doesn’t die. Pelé will never die. Pelé is going to go on forever. But Edson is a normal person who is going to die one day, and the people forget that.”

Brazilian all-time football great Edson Arantes do Nascimento, who died on December 29, 2022, aged 82, after a difficult struggle with cancer, was popularly known as Pele. It can be said that Pele is not dead. He had long ago attained the status of an immortal.  

Notably, the president of the international governing body of football, FIFA, Gianni Infantino, announced at his funeral that the association would “ask that all countries in the world have at least one stadium with the name of Pele…so that children know Pele’s importance.”

Acknowledged as “the greatest” by FIFA, he was in 1999 named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee, voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) in 2000, and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century. He played as an attacker, scoring 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, including friendlies, which is documented as a Guiness World Record.   

His prodigious football talent earned him a position in Brazilian club Santos FC at age 15, and the Brazil national team at 16. He made history as the only player to win three FIFA World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970. A man of many records, he was at 17 the youngest winner of a FIFA World Cup and the youngest goal scorer in a FIFA World Cup Final, among others. He was also the first player to score in three successive FIFA World Cup tournaments. It is a measure of his value that the government of Brazil in 1961 declared him an “official national treasure.” 

Noted for his “electrifying play and penchant for spectacular goals,” he was the face of football in his era, and even beyond. A particular story, with an interesting Nigerian flavour, demonstrated his worldwide fame. “One of my greatest prides was to have stopped a war in Nigeria, in 1969, in one of the many football tours that Santos made around the world,” he tweeted two years ago. 

 According to him, “We were asked to play a friendly match in Benin City, in the middle of a civil war, but Santos was so beloved that they agreed on a ceasefire on the matchday. It became known as the day that Santos stopped the war.”  The war ended in 1970. It is uncertain if there was actually a ceasefire. Such was Pele’s popularity that it could produce myths.  Santos also played a 2-2 draw with Lagos-based Stationery Stores FC during the tour. 

To his credit, in his twilight playing years he helped to popularise football in the US after joining the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1975. 

After retiring from football in 1977, he continued to promote the game internationally in various ways, and also used his image to work for a better world through his involvement in humanitarian and environmental causes. He was appointed a UN ambassador for ecology and the environment in 1992.  He was in 1994 appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He became minister of sports in Brazil in 1995, and proposed a law known as the “Pele law” to reduce corruption in Brazilian football. Known as “The King of Football,” or simply “The King,” he had the common touch, and was not only revered for his football glories but also valued for championing anti-poverty policies in his country and the world in general.    

The Pele Museum, which cost about $22 million, was inaugurated in the city of Santos, Brazil, in 2014, and houses 2, 400 exhibits connected with the football legend. That is the stuff of immortality.

•That looting the public treasury at year-end has persisted for so long is a shame

Looting has remained a culture in the Nigerian public service. As December approaches and a new budget is being prepared, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government try to tidy up their books. Whatever amount remains in the books has to be spent, usually for personal benefits.

We commend the Federal Government for taking steps to halt the practice. As the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation instructed in a circular to all heads of the MDAs,  no revenue generated by them should  be wantonly expended as was the practice in previous years.

The move is apt at this point when the whole world knows that Nigeria is facing both revenue and debt crises. Revenue generating agencies fail to ensure that non-oil fund due to the government is fully recovered and remitted. But, in this case, the Head of Service is even saying that which is raked up is being spent in an unacceptable manner.

This reflects failure of institutions and values. The public service is guided by strict rules that are clearly spelt out in its rules and regulations. One of such rules is the Financial Instructions.  Heads of the MDAs should be held responsible for any breach of the rules. Only then would they be made responsible, responsive and accountable. 

This is not the first time government would threaten to tighten the loose ends and punish erring civil servants, but it usually ends at that — nothing is heard thereafter, thus emboldening the officers to continue with the nefarious activities. It should be clear to all now that should the country continue on this perilous trajectory, the future will remain bleak.

Unfortunately, the obnoxious practice is not limited to the federal public service.  The states are even worse and steps are not being taken to curb it as well as other fraudulent activities. It is sad that states remain fully dependent on allocations from the Federation Account. This has made them lazy about revenue collection and reporting. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in liaison with the Head of Service of the Federation should organise a conference of all secretaries to state governments and states’ heads of service to plan how to curb the practice. This is an emergency period, which must be appreciated by all.

The 2023 Appropriation Act just signed by the President estimates public expenditure at N21 trillion, of which more than half hangs on deficit financing. A lot has been said about high cost of governance with little done. To fight corruption, the Obasanjo administration established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  (EFCC) and the twin agency, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), but, it appears the more the government claims to fight corruption, the more the cancer spreads through the service. The Buhari government has only about four months to quit the stage. The President rode into office on the mantra of a ruthless fight of corruption.  He promised change in the public service and better life for citizens. If the administration should end on this note, it would be regarded as a failure, at least on this score. 

Even at this last minute, the public service could be reviewed by ensuring that rules are applied. Whoever falls short of demands of regulations should be punished according to the law. By so doing, the foundation would have been laid for the succeeding government. 

•Failure to urgently salvage mishap victims fuels fatality figures

Deaths from road and air crashes, fire accidents, ambush attacks by violent criminals and other sudden mishaps are common and, arguably, growing in Nigeria. And this is so in many cases because of slow emergency response on account of which the deaths occur, not instantly during the mishap itself, but in the intervening hours before help arrives for victims who might have survived had they been attended to much earlier. It is a worrisome trend needing concerted remedy.

No fewer than 1,834 persons died in 3,345 documented road crashes in the first quarter of 2022, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in June, last year. This was against 1,652 deaths in the last quarter of 2021, and a lower figure of 1,432 deaths in the quarter preceding that. Analysts argued that the rise in fatalities owed largely to poor emergency response by which victims were denied urgent assistance needed to save their lives. Sometimes, the challenge had to do with defective infrastructure such as bad access roads to sites of accidents, poor attitude of official emergency responders and inadequate ambulance services, among others. Sometimes it was the hospitals that withheld emergency attention from victims for reasons including inadequate facility, and dread of legal consequences pertaining to victims with gunshot wounds. At other times, it was the sheer heartlessness of citizens who get to scenes of mishaps and, rather than render emergency help to victims, video their plight for sharing on social media.

In a recent report, Sunday PUNCH recounted harrowing experiences of three Lagos State Polytechnic students who stayed about two hours under a 40 feet container that fell off a trailer bed and crushed the car they were travelling in from Ikorodu at Ojuelegba, mainland Lagos, before they were rescued from under the container. The report also recalled the 2006 crash of ADC Airlines plane in which 96 air travellers were burnt to death, with one survivor saying those deaths could have been avoided or minimised if rescuers came much earlier, because it took about an hour after the aircraft crash-landed before it finally exploded and incinerated trapped occupants.

On another level, there have been reports of hospitals withholding medical help from injured victims who sympathisers manage to get to hospitals in critical conditions, but with breath still in them. In many cases, the hospitals claimed they did not have the right personnel or medicaments to attend to such victims, or there were no bed spaces, or they would simply not treat victims of gunshots or other violent attacks until they get police reports authenticating the circumstances of the injuries. 

In 2020, the Lagos State government subjected a notable private hospital in Gbagada to public inquiry for refusing urgent medical aid to 28-year-old Moradeun Balogun who got stabbed in the neck and robbed at twilight by armed bandits. She was rather referred by the private hospital without any first aid to Gbagada General Hospital, but died before she could get help from the referral hospital. Such is the insulatory mentality of some hospitals that accounts for high fatalities. 

On yet another level, emergency responders take a long time showing up at scenes of mishaps, sometimes inevitably so owing to poor access routes. And where they show up, there may be no ambulance services to get victims speedily to hospital. Records showed that of all states in Nigeria, only Lagos has an organised state-run emergency medical service and a working public safety answering point (PSAP) / emergency communication centre. All other states, including the Federal Capital Territory, have neither state-coordinated ambulance services nor PSAP.

Perhaps the biggest bane of all is some citizens’ insensitive response to emergencies. The Sunday PUNCH report cited the spokesman for Southwest zone of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, bemoaning a modern trend whereby people take pictures or record videos of accident scenes rather than render help to victims. “When an accident occurs, the closest persons to the scene have the civic responsibility to respond. Whoever witnesses an accident and does not act or respond to save lives will be culpable. That is the law,” Farinloye was quoted saying, adding: “By the provision of the NEMA Act…you must mobilise resources in response to distress alerts.  Anybody caught taking pictures or recording videos at an accident scene instead of saving lives will be held responsible. When you see an emergency case, you must make efforts to contact the next available responder that you have access to.”

Life has primacy and all hands must be put to task to urgently salvage victims from wreckages of mishaps when there is breath in them.