On an Enugu Air flight to Lagos from Abuja this morning, August 16th, another mild drama played out briefly.
As the plane taxied, the pilot, a female captain, announced that there was a recalcitrant passenger who had declined switching off his phone as instructed, and that if the fellow insisted, she might be left with no option than to make a u-turn.
At this point, she had stopped on the runway.
Hearing this warning, other passengers took it upon themselves and started shouting at this potentially disruptive passenger. Eventually, he turned off his phone, and the journey to Lagos continued.
But here is why this piece became compelling and timely. While the purser, a calm and well-mannnered lady, was appealing to him to turn off his phone and he refused, hear what he said to her: “Wetin happen for Ibom Air go happen for here now now.”
That’s the result of having a poor reward and sanction system with no consequences. If those who had tried this nonsense had faced the penalties for their action and not the shameful “slap on the wrist” punishment meted out to them, another irreverent passenger would not open his mouth and say, “Wetin happen for Ibom Air go happen for here now now.”
No serious nation tramples on its own laws or chooses when to enforce it or not and against whom. The two recent breaches in air safety protocols and their handling have shown how unserious we are as a people and also why our leadership will continue to create strong people as against strong institutions. It is a conscious decision. It has never been an accident.
With the disastrous handling of the K1 and the K2 matters, even though no attention was given to the incident tagged K3, a template has been created already and it will haunt the Aviation Sector for a long time to come. The shame is not just for the leadership. The people, too, share a large chunk of it as intentional enablers of bad behaviours.
Fans and supporters of the Fuji king are now buying similar gold flasks as a form of solidarity with him, displaying it with arrogance of “na we dey power.” Also, practically every money-miss-road, including government officials, had offered “Auntie Komfo” one form of comfort or the other, obviously because…
But such people will never offer similar encouragement to outstanding students in any field or institution. We celebrate silly things and reward bad behaviours at the expense of more edifying tangibles and intangibles.
Indeed, Nigeria and her people are a case study in human civilisation.
By Olawale Olaleye.
