The rescue of the Chilean 33: A lesson for Nigeria

Chile accomplished the rescue operation solely by Chileans (even the capsule used for the rescue was built by the Chilean navy). A country branded a third world country as ours. Please, don’t bother to think what would have happened if this accident had occurred in Nigeria. Just close your eyes and imagine what would have […]

Chile accomplished the rescue operation solely by Chileans (even the capsule used for the rescue was built by the Chilean navy). A country branded a third world country as ours. Please, don’t bother to think what would have happened if this accident had occurred in Nigeria. Just close your eyes and imagine what would have happened.

A nation that has not bothered to even catalogue the victims of a recent bomb blast. Instead, we are busy politicking with such a serious incident.

There was no Presidential or Senate, House of Representatives or Judiciary committee set up to see or look into how the men can be rescued( which would have led to the loss of a lot of man hours, thereby causing untold fatalities). There were no prayer warriors or Imam’s seen binding and loosing on top of the mountain (not that the people did not pray but men went to work- James 2:19)

There was no Julius Berger or Arab contractor to dig for the rescue. It was hugely a Chilean ingenuity. They did not wait for governors forum to decide what next to do. There were no wives of governors distributing rice to alleviate the suffering of the affected families. Everything was done with a great sense of urgency and precision. Most importantly was the passion, the unity of the people. Chileans kept vigil. Nobody said or showed the sign “it doesn’t concern “us” or “it’s their business”.

There is no doubt that the challenges before us as a nation or as a race are enormous. I believe we can surmount them. We have got the capacity. We have the human and material capital, but we must synchronize this with a national vision and unity. Above all, we must rid ourselves of greed or ostentatiousness, which is the bastion of corruption in our society, the reason why we may not have achieved this kind of feat.

Dr Amaechi M. Nwaokolo is a Research Fellow on International Terrorism and Political Violence based in the United Kingdom