Nigeria’s Avoidable Tragedies -By Kene Obiezu

What is the value of a life in Nigeria? How much is every life worth in Nigeria? Apart from just how starkly low life expectancy indicts conditions of life in the country, is human life really invaluable in Nigeria or is there a ceiling for the value placed on human life?

 Are the conditions in the Giant of Africa conducive to people living full, quality lives or do the conditions present contribute to cruelling cutting short the lives of so many before they reach their prime?

 How much has Nigeria been losing as a result of the many avoidable deaths that continue to rock the country yearly, cutting short lives in their prime and plunging families into heart-shredding grief?

 A boatload of tragedy

On Friday, September 7,2022, two boat mishaps in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State occurred, plunging  over eighty people to their deaths at the bottom of the river. President Muhammadu Buhari has since offered his heartfelt condolences to the   devastated families, the community and the entire state.

 Those who would cite their religious inclinations to say that the tragedy just had to happen when it did or to say that it was the time for the victims to die may want to answer the question whether there were enough safety measures in place on the boat that ferried tens of people to their deaths.

  While they may argue that it was not the first time such people were travelling by boat, and that it was only the first time such a tragedy was befalling such a large number of people, one would not be far away in concluding that given the location of the tragedy, the commuters simply piled themselves into a boat and left themselves to fate and faith even if they were critically unsure of the safety of the boat or the suitability of the weather conditions on that day.

 This tragedy brings a painful reminder of the other entirely avoidable tragedies that have shaken Nigeria this year. It was only a few months ago that fire broke out at an illegal oil refinery in Abaezi, Imo State and roasted more than a hundred people beyond recognition. In the months that have followed, while more mind-boggling revelations have emerged about the scale of theft of Nigeria`s oil, it is doubtful that enough has been done in this time to combat the menace of oil theft in Nigeria.

 This year, Nigeria has also been confronted by the spectre of collapsed buildings.  From Lagos to Abuja to Kano and to practically every major city in the country, a building or two has come down, burying helpless and hapless Nigerians beneath its crumbled ruins. Each time a building has come down, lives as well as economic opportunities have been lost.

 As the year draws to a close, Nigeria has also been forced to take count of the cost of road accidents across the country.  So many lives have been lost to road accidents this year and with them so many opportunities gone.

 In many ways, these tragedies are avoidable.  But they are not often precluded because Nigeria critically lacks the infrastructure and the institutions to preclude them. This will remain the case as long as the requisite infrastructure and institutions are not put in place.

 Until they are put in place, Nigeria will continue to be scarred by the needless deaths of those corralled to their graves only by the fact that they found themselves in a country with very little regard for human life and well-being.

Kene Obiezu,

Twitter :@kenobiezu