Today , 18 years ago, 117 men and women, young and old, were buried alive by an act of fate inside the bowel of the land at Lisa village. Lisa is a member of Ifesowapo community, Ifo local government, Ogun State. Lisa village is now a transformed village alongside all the villages around it . Thanks to the heart-wrenching incident. A case of the dead impacting life on the living.
On the 22nd of October 2005, Belleview Flight 210, took off from Muritala Mohammed International Airport en route to Abuja. Shortly after taking off, it developed engine problems and disappeared from radar. It got buried at Lisa , a small village among Ifesowapo community, Ifo local government. It was a sad day for the aviation industry, the family of deseaced passengers and Nigeria in general.
The site became a pilgrimage of sort. People from all walks of life began to pay a visit. These included the family of the unfortunate people, aviation industry members, government officials including the Head of State, President Olusegun Obasanjo.
A decision was reached to immortalize the victims by giving them symbolic mass burial and construct arcade at the site with the names of all the victims inscribed on the concrete. And there and then, a monument was created.
There was no access road to the site from Lisa and from Ijoko, the nearest town to Lisa. The federal government, under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose village , Ibogun, shares the same local government with Lisa , gave a directive for the road to be constructed from Ijoko town to the site. The initial plan was to give the project to Julius Berger, but The Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, prevailed on the president to hand the project to him for execution. Some Nigeria political leaders derived benefits from people’s misfortunes. They dine with the devil in order to enrich themselves. The question: “What is in it for me?” must be answered by Nigerians politicians before embarking on any execution of public project.
The construction was given to a company in which the governor has interests. The result was compromised relationships, resulting in a shoddy delivery of the road project. Some of us complained bitterly to the site engineer about the bad work that was being done. The usual answer was : ” We work on specifications given to us.” The road, after 18 years, is now a death trap . We, the community, wish it was not constructed at all, for it has added more dead to the victims of the plane crash. The road is now a subject of monthly meetings by the community trying to provide “PALIATIVE ” for the terribly damaged portions of the road. It could have been a well appreciated gesture if the government, at whatever level, had considered the repair of the bad portions of the road for us instead of sharing derica of rice to the dying people. I am referring to the controversial exercise going on in the local government that has generated more distrust of the government amongst the poor masses. The religious leaders and community leaders are now struggling to absolve themselves from the absurdity of an action meant to satisfy political cronies , dubious religious leaders, faceless traditional rulers, and community leaders. OWN THIS TRUTH: OUR NEHEMIAH IS YET TO BE BORN.
WHY THE EPISTLE?
Prior to the 22nd of October 2005 , Lisa village was not known beyond Ifo Local government. The community around that axis barely existed and commanded no government attention.
Today, Lisa, with a recognized traditional head and the villages around it, are now semi urban settlements. Thanks to the exposure given to it by the plane crash.
The badly constructed road to the site of the plane crash encourages massive urban rural movement. Houses have taken off from bushes and squirrels and grasscutters; our bush meat has been driven away. We welcome the transformation and the insecurities that come with it. The economy of the community enjoyed improvement. There was a massive population up surge. All these are due to the access road to the site of the plane crash. Beyond any other factor, road net work is the key to rural development. The government knows this , but it took the lives of 117 people before the road was constructed. Within five years òf its construction, the road went back to its old self.
ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY
Some of the victims of the plane crash at Lisa might not have impacted onto people’s lives while they were alive, but collectively, they changed the face of a whole community at death. For this, their souls deserve to be remembered and honored .
A few years ago, I proposed an annual day for the victims. The proposal was not generally accepted. Recently , however, a committee has been set up by the community to take another look at the proposal and come out with an acceptable action plan to remember the dead. Hopefully, by the next anniversary , we shall come up with a public private partnership on the matter.
The key point is to turn LISA ARCADE TO A NATIONAL TOURISTS CENTER.
The plan is to set aside a week in a year to give :
____LECTURE ON AVIATION SAFETY.
____INTERDINOMINATIONAL PRAYERS.
____DISPLAY OF OUR RICH CULTURES.
____CANDLES LIGHT PROCESSION , ETC.
TODAY, WE REMEMBER THE VICTIMS OF LISA PLANE CRASH. WE PRAY FOR THE CONTINUAL REPOSE OF THEIR SOULS. AND WE BELIEVE THE LOVED ONES LEFT BEHIND HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FILL THE VOID IN THEIR LIVES AND MOVE ON IN LIFE.
MAY WE NOT WITNESS THIS TYPE OF DISASTER AGAIN ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
FOLA
