"Onwuchi"

Mum had one belief, every death was caused by death itself and so every time you asked her what killed someone her response was always “death”. It did not matter to her whether the person was sick or involved in an accident, to her “Death came calling”.

There is an Igbo phrase that says “Onwuchi” meaning God’s death used to describe death from natural causes. I am sure some people are already uncomfortable but not to worry this post is not about really about death or dying.

I have a phobia for flying and whenever I have to make a trip by air I have nightmares till the trip comes to an end. Due to the avophobia that I have, I do not watch any movie that has anything to do with a plane crash. I avoid them very carefully.

Flipping channels recently, I came across the movie “Sully” for the umpteenth time; this movie is based on a true story of the miraculous crash landing of a flight on the Hudson River with one hundred and fifty five passengers. I said a silent prayer and went on to watch it at least one thing was clear, it had a happy ending. 

The plane came in contact with a flock of Canada geese (now I know why my friend calls a silly person a Canada goose) and some of the geese were sucked into the engines which made both plane engines to stop working.

I’m already sweating as I write this; it must have been the most terrifying experience for all onboard. The amazing thing was the way the Captain and the Co-pilot worked together to make the best decision at that moment. When the plane eventually crash landed on water, the actions of the pilots and the flight attendants really touched me and I hadto think of my country Nigeria.

A ferry boat captain on duty on the same waters saw what happened and immediately swung into action, he called for a back up and in no time able-bodied men and women (I don’t think I saw a woman though) were seen racing into waiting rescue boats. There were helicopters all over the area and you could see professional divers jumping off helicopters into the River on the rescue mission.

One American life is worth more than a million Nigerian lives and I say this with so much sadness.

I replayed the scenario on the Nigerian waters, the Lagoon in Lagos or River Niger or River Benue. I wonder if the pilots would have been as professional as the US Airways Flight 1549 pilots. This Captain Sullenberger made sure that not a single person was left behind in the flight; he was practically begged to leave the sinking plane. I know that pilots and flight attendants are trained to take care of their passengers first but when the chips are down, will they remember their training?

The passengers obeyed the pilots and evacuated peacefully, typical Nigerians with the “Warri no dey carry last” mentality will scamper and struggle to be the first at the exit and they would have sunk the plane faster than envisaged with too many activities.

On our waters, it would be fishermen in canoes that would attempt to rescue a few people, then the captain of one of those private ferries would make calls on his mobile phone and maybe the network would choose at that time to be bad.

Our military helicopters are for the President, governors, ministers or senators and never for the common man and so there would be no helicopters to the rescue.  Are there even professional divers attached to any government parastatal in Nigeria?  The Navy of course should have but I haven’t seen. 

On that one incident on the Hudson River, it was said that all of America’s finest came out to play, the Fire service, Navy, Air force, the Police and all. Nobody would even remember the Fire Service in Nigeria; first there is no fire so why call them? Secondly, they may not have petrol in their fire engine truck.

Victims of such accidents in Nigeria are left at the mercy of fishermen, alayes, agberos and good Samaritans. I read somewhere of the mind blowing figures of dead bodies found floating on Lagos waters every week and it was alarming. Although some are said to be suicide, many others are from boat mishaps. Ordinary boat mishaps are unsolved mysteries in Nigeria how much more a crash? 

This is where I differ from my mother’s views on death, most deaths in Nigeria are man-made or preventable and I insist that anyone who dies in Nigeria did not die a natural death. It is not a case of “Onwuchi”. 

I remember engaging a young doctor some years back and she told me that she was scared to be a doctor in Nigeria, most deaths in the hospitals are due to negligence or doctors’ errors but they are not allowed to say much.

Our Government agencies are sleeping, they do absolutely nothing. But then do I blame them? No, not at all. How do you work when you have not been empowered? Does a workman work without his tools?

I am not done yet….