Cross section of the bereaved family members, friends, members of the
diplomatic community, representatives of aviation regulatory and health
agencies during a meeting with Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on the
Dana Air plane crash of last Sunday held at the State House, Ikeja,
Lagos, on Sunday, June 10, 2012.
WorldStage
Newsonline-- Some families and members of the diplomatic community
whose members and nationals died in the Dana Air plane crash of June 3,
2012 have indicated that they would wait to take the procession of the
bodies of their love ones as long as it will take the government to
identify them.
This
with other far-reaching decisions were taken on the way forward, during
a meeting they had with the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola (SAN), on Sunday .
The
meeting, held behind closed doors, took place at the Lagos House,
Ikeja, and also had in attendance top officials of the Aviation industry
the Chief Medical Examiner of the State, Professor Oladapo Obafunwa as
well as religious leaders.
Fielding
questions from newsmen after the meeting which lasted for several
hours, Governor Fashola said it was informed by the need to make
information more detailed and more available to the families to enable
them know what the State Government is doing concerning the
identification and release of the bodies of their departed loved ones
and what they should expect next.
Governor
Fashola, who disclosed that some vital decisions were taken at the
meeting, pointed out that the families agreed with the processes
Government is pursuing, which is to investigate and identify the bodies
before releasing them to the various families adding that the people
indicated their willingness to cooperate with Government.
“They
indicated that as long as this takes, they are prepared to wait. That
is one decision that we took”, the Governor said adding, “We have set up
now a relationship team from Government and who will be communicating
specifically with them.
“They
have agreed to constitute some of their members to be representatives
on the team so that we have a more coordinated approach to
communication, sharing information, managing the release of bodies that
can be identified and generally working through all of the twists and
turns that it will take”, the Governor said.
Describing
the process as very painful and very tedious, Governor Fashola,
however, expressed confidence that success would be achieved at the end
of it all adding that the meeting was useful in helping both the
Government and the families to chart a common course going forward.
On
why the State Government has decided to take the actions it is now
taking, Governor Fashola declared, “The accident happened in our State,
these are citizens, these are taxpayers, the Government has to stand up
for its citizens and that is the simple reason we are doing what we are
doing”.
“We
are doing our job; we are not doing anything special here. We must
empathize, we must respond, people must look to us; that is why they
voted and we hope that our best will be enough”, the Governor said.
Some
of the details of the meeting made available to newsmen revealed that
some of the family members of the victims expressed gratitude to the
Lagos State Government for working assiduously towards the
identification and release the bodies of their relations in order to
take them home for proper burial as well as generally caring even though
the obligations for aviation management was a federal one.
One
of the bereaved family members, Dr. Benjamin Iyene, pleaded with the
Lagos State Government to do everything in its power to ensure that they
get the bodies of their relations pointing out that Nigerians are very
attached to their dead.
Dr.
Iyene, who said he lost nine family members in the crash, suggested
that a small work group, comprising government officials and some
members of the victims’ families including affected members of the
diplomatic corps, be set up to continue to work on the process of
identification and release of bodies to their respective families
Noting
that the process is a tedious and long one, Dr. Iyene who also
commended the State Government for doing its best in the matter,
however, urge the Government to do more. “It is very tedious, it is a
very long process, but we think Your Excellency should not give up. You
should work harder. If the Federal Government doesn’t want to support
you, go ahead and do what must be done for the sake of everybody”, he
said.
With
a voice laden with emotion, Dr. Iyene said, “Because of the way we are,
we Nigerians are very, very attached to the dead. Two days ago, my
Vicar in the village called me that they heard that three children woke
up adding, “I replied, ‘is it possible? If people are put in the
mortuary for at least five days, how can they wake up? Nobody has woken
up. So we have to manage the environment”.
Thanking
the State Government for all its efforts since the unfortunate incident
to assuage the sorrows of those who lost loved ones, Dr. Iyene told his
colleagues, “If we stay here for the next one hour, emotions will be
running down. My fellow grief-stricken people, this man does not have
the solutions or answers to all our questions because the State
Government does not own or manage aviation. There is no Ministry of
Aviation in Lagos State, Ministry of Aviation is owned by the Federal
Government; so he is trying to help; let’s work with him and help
ourselves”.
Also
present at the meeting were the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide
Idris, his Special Duties counterpart, Dr. Wale Ahmed, Attorney-General
and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaiye, Commissioner for
Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, Special Adviser on
Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Yewande Adeshina, Professor of Pathology and Chief
Medical Examiner of the State, Professor Oladapo Obafunwa, Director
General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren,
members of the diplomatic corps and other top government functionaries.
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