WHAT IS A NIGERIAN WORTH? (3)

This is the third time I am asking this question but the more I ask, the more innocent lives are lost to avoidable deaths. We talk about death casually but I cannot but keep asking – what is the worth of an average Nigerian?

Another nine (9) lives were lost in cold blood at Ojuelegba, Lagos penultimate Sunday. Yes, nine innocent lives were terminated by a fallen container in a system that keeps talking about the problem but does so little to solve the problem.

Even to non-Nigerians, Ojuelegba is a renown centre, not only in Lagos but in Nigeria. Thanks to the late king of Afro Beats, the Abami Eda himself, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, when he sang 🎼for Ojuelegba 2x, moto dey come from east, moto dey come from west, moto dey come from north, moto dey come from south🎼

Motor is still coming from all the four cardinal points at Ojuelegba but containers are falling from the overhead bridge to sniff lives out of innocent Nigerians on regular basis. It is more like a ritual and I cannot but ask again, what is a Nigerian worth?

Accidents do happen but what makes ours fearfully different is that we can predict our accidents. I had cause to pass through the scene of this accident barely two hours after it happened.

As the wreckage of the commercial bus on which the container fell was being evacuated, I suddenly found myself in-between two trailers, each carrying a 40ft container, about climbing the same Ojuelegba bridge in the opposite direction.

Of course, I pulled out of the lane and doubled my distance to the two impending dangers. Sadly, none of the two containers was strapped to the trailers. They passed through the law enforcement agents unhindered.

I am tempted to ask if it is more convenient for our emergency responders to pack dead bodies after avoidable accidents than for the law enforcers to prevent avoidable deaths? What really is the worth of an average Nigerian?

Lagos State Government has promised to institute a case against the truck owner and the driver. This is usual. What is not usual is that none of these probes has ever reclaimed a single life out of the numerous that have been lost to government’s indecision at Ojuelegba.

I am just thinking, can’t the energies meant for these endless probes be channelled towards ensuring that no unstrapped container is allowed on the road? Must container loaded trucks even climb this Ojuelegba bridge?

In other news, death toll from Katsina terror attacks rises to 84. Judge killed inside the court in Imo State. These deaths are reported casually and life is going on. It is tough to be a Nigerian living in Nigeria.

I join good spirited Nigerians to pray for peaceful repose of all the deceased and may all the bereaved members of their family find comfort to bear their irreplaceable losses.

These are times the ink struggle to flow. The scary part is that these things can actually happen to anybody. The popular chorus is “not my portion”. May we not be victims of untimely death but I ask again – what really is the worth of a Nigerian?

©️Akin Oluwadare Jnr
06 February 2023