One year after, families berate Dana Air over compensation
Families of victims, sympathisers, aviation stakeholders and government officials who thronged the scene of the accident yesterday wore gloomy faces as memories of the sad incident played back. Victims’ family members intermittently shed tears as speakers took turn to talk at the First Year Anniversary and unveiling of the Memorial Cenotaph for victims of the […]
Families of victims, sympathisers, aviation stakeholders and government officials who thronged the scene of the accident yesterday wore gloomy faces as memories of the sad incident played back.
Victims’ family members intermittently shed tears as speakers took turn to talk at the First Year Anniversary and unveiling of the Memorial Cenotaph for victims of the Dana Air Crash held at Popoola/Olaniyi Street, Iju-Ishaga, Lagos yesterday.
Recall, Flight J9 992 took off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja in the afternoon of June 3 last year and crashed about five minutes to landing at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Some of the families expressed disgust over the way Dana Air and its insurers have handled compensation matters.
Dr. Ben Ayene, who lost all six family members in the crash, was miffed that Dana is still flying in spite of the House of Representatives resolution that the airline be grounded until they resolve issues of compensation and other sundry matters.
“Dana Air is still flying in spite the House of Representatives resolution asking the Federal Government to ground them till payment of compensations to the families of the victims is complete. Dana Air is flying even though we don’t have an official report as to why it crashed,” he said.
On whether he was satisfied with the way Dana and the Insurers have handled the compensation issue, he said “I don’t know whether Dana has paid any compensation, so the issue of whether I am satisfied with how they handled it does not even arise. I am not aware that Dana has done anything for the families. I have not received compensation. Dana is just playing hanky- panky game with people but it’s most unfortunate,” he said.
“But don’t blame Dana, I blame the system. This kind of thing cannot happen in other serious societies. When the system is effective, everything works but when the system is corrupted, nothing works. It’s our culture that created Dana,” he noted.
Beyond compensation, he said, the FG must take aviation safety critical, more than what it is doing at the moment.
“I wouldn’t like to delve too much on the compensation because no amount of money can bring back the dead but I would like us to concentrate energy on how to prevent future occurrences. We need to take quality control in Nigeria, we compromise a lot,” he said.
Also the Mrs. Chizoba Modekwu, the head human resources, Central Bank of Nigeria who lost a sister and eight colleagues in the crash told our correspondent, the families who lost their bread winners must be immediately taken care of.
On issue of compensation she said “I don’t know of any compensation from Dana. I haven’t seen Dana but my concern is about how we can guard against future occurrence. It’s even more fundamental now. Beyond the compensation let’s see how we can help the families of the victims to survive. I will suggest that government strengthens the regulation and monitoring of the compliance. We also need to work with the airlines to improve their services and safety and ensure that people don’t cut corners.”
“It has been extremely difficult for my family to bear the loss; I believe it is the same for the rest of the other families,” she noted.
According to her, the families are asking questions not to apportion blame but to help in making Nigeria’s airspace safer.
“We have tones of questions that have remained unanswered. We are asking the questions not because we want to apportion blames but because we don’t want a reoccurrence of the incidence. Tragedies happen in spite our precautions but how we react to it counts,” she noted.
Tony Usidamen, the head corporate communications, Dana Airline, maintained that compensations have been paid to some families but some have been delayed because of incomplete documents.
He said as of yesterday, over 100 families have received the $30,000 initial payment while about 20 have received the full claims of $100,000.
“But we have not been able to complete the compensation payments due largely to the inability of the families to complete the documentations. There have also been cases of multiple claims and in-house fighting on the part of the families. There have also been the problems of granting the right of probate which is not a document the airline or the insurers’ issue.
“The insurers’ don’t have control over the speed with which the probate ministry issues the later of administration. But we have the assurances of our insurers that the full compensation will be made to them as soon as they present their letter of administration. We will see that all claims are settled according to the provision of the law,” he explained.
He said compensation to the ground victim is also ongoing even though there is a setback because the law does not specify how much the ground victims should be paid in the event of an accident.
“Compensation is only based on the extent of loss by each victim. I can tell you that three families as of last week have been paid full compensation after negotiations. One of them received $100,000. The most affected, Pastor Omaumi has been paid initial $30,000 compensation as negotiation is still ongoing. An offer has been made to his legal representative last week,” Usidamen said but declined the identity of the other ground victims that have been compensated.
“Nine families were severely affected but our insurers received more than nine applications for claims. I can assure that those with genuine claims will be compensated to the extent of their losses he assured,” he said.
Meanwhile the federal government said the ongoing remodelling of Nigeria’s airports had been spurred by that tragedy in order to avert air crashes of that magnitude.
Aviation Minister Princess Stella Adaeze Odua said while addressing newsmen and aviation stakeholders during the aviation safety week that the Technical and Administrative Review Panel on Domestic Airlines (TARPDA) set up following the crash recommended most of the ongoing developments in 22 airports.
She said in the last one year, the NCAA had worked closely with Dana airline, insurance companies and the Lagos state government to ensure speedy payment of claims and compensation. The minister said the crash will remain a major blot on an “otherwise remarkable two years of our stewardship.”
On his part, the acting Director General of the NCAA, Mr J. D. Nkemakolam said before the recent rehabilitation, Nigeria was having problems of ageing aircraft, infrastructure, workforce, antiquated funding options and astronomical airline operation costs.
With the upgrading and installation of new equipment, Nkemakolam said, “The NCAA has intensified surveillance on airline operators by conducting daily ramp inspections and maintenance spot inspections on all operators carrying out scheduled and non-scheduled maintenance works on their aircrafts.”
He also said the NCAA has created operation and command centres on aircraft tracking system in Lagos and Abuja aimed at enhancing its safety oversight functions
Also commenting, the Director General of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) Dr Anthony Anuforom said his agency has acquired all the modern equipment needed for the monitoring and evaluation of weather as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization {ICAO}.]