How Do You Know Your Airline is Safe?

In light of recent events, I thought sharing this article from CNN most appropriate:

How Do You Know Your Airline is Safe?

It appears that Nigeria is on the Category 1 list, which means that our planes are safe to fly. However Dana Airlines was not on the list . . . . I think the list of safe airlines that are rated Category One should be readily and easily accessible so at least we can have some sort of peace of mind as we continue to fly within the country. . . . if I come across this list I will share it.

Once again my condolences to all those who lost family and friends. May the souls of all those who passed away rest in perfect peace. Amen.

Featured Omoge for June 2012 - Anna Morenike Adediran a.k.a (Marinika)

Bright like the sunshine and armed with a personality like no other, I present to you this months Omoge, Anna Adediran aka Marinika.

Born in Krasnodar, south of Russia to a Russian mother and a Nigerian Father, do not let that background fool you - she is a true “Naija” girl, who can speak Yoruba like her father’s Oduduwa :p

With a knack for languages, she also speaks English, Russian and French.

Raised mostly in Nigeria, she studied accounting in Ife. While she was still in her first year, she was awarded a scholarship by the Nigerian Scholarship Board to study abroad. Due to her heritage and background, she chose Russia as her first choice and went on to study accounting at The Finance University in Moscow. After her graduation, she worked at Vozrozdeniye Bank in Moscow and later went on to work at Ecowash Mobile CIS Ltd.

She was then awarded a postgraduate scholarship and is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Management at The Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, where she currently lectures.

Her passions in life include dancing, baking, traveling, volunteering, writing short poems and listening to live music. She also enjoys watching basketball and ice-skating.

Some of her favorite quotes to live by are:

 "It is never too late to be what you might have been. NEVER GIVE UP!"

"Life is God's gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift back to God."

Her motivation in life is to learn, love, live life fully and become the best person she can be both professionally and personally.

Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors Marinika!

Follow her on twitter @The_LadyInRed

All the Things That Went Wrong on June 3, 2012 After the Plane Came Crashing Down

Unruly crowd-  We all saw the pictures of people gathered around in shock and disbelief and that is to be expected but no barricade or crowd control. On cnn, on of their reporters said a wall came down because people were climbing over it not to help but to look. Fine u want to take pictures and video but don’t get I the way of the rescue.

Accessibility to crash site and victim- because of the crowd, the Red Cross who were trying to conduct the rescue had to eventually stop bcos they could not get thru the crowd . . . does this make sense at all???

Am also sure the narrow and pot hole riddles roads did not help either in getting to and fro the crash site.

Fire Dept had no water???!!!! . . . . yes we know its Nigeria, no water, no light, no petrol no nothing. But if there is a fire brigade and they claim to be operating what were they doing when there was no disaster? couldn’t they be sorting out water.

Now lets say there are survivors on ground who may have survived having a faulty plane drop out of the sky on to their heads. . .  Rescue team takes them to the hospital. Does the hospital have the appropriate facilities for burn and trauma victims? Do they have the equipment to keep the people alive?

Electricity- Plane went done approx 3.45pm, by 6pm it is already getting dark. Will there be light? How do we see the bodies under all the rubble? How will the rescue continue through the night? How effective is the rescue going to be?

Lack of Proper Coverage- Why do we all have to tune into CNN and BBC to learn what is happening in our own country? Most of our local stations were slow to cover the situation and a lot of stations still went on as usual and did not even run a banner of breaking news. If we barely care about ourselves, how do we expect others to truly care about us as well?

The whole situation is just so sad and painful. So many lives gone and lost, planes do crash in other parts of the world. But the Dana plane that came down yesterday painstakely reveals all the major problems within Nigeria. These problems are not new and we all complain about them but its time to stop complaining and venting and time to mobilize and take action and do something… We should all remain prayerful during times like this because it is times like this that do test our faith but we should also remember that God helps those who help themselves. Nigerians as a whole we need to help ourselves become a better nation and running out of the country is not going to help.

My heart goes out to all those who may have lost loved ones during this ordeal. Most especially to friends and all the people that flew into Abuja from the States, Lagos and all over for the wedding and events going on this past weekend. Please remember this is not the end and surely brighter days are ahead of us. xxx

Mitun Dada

Plane Crash From Abuja to Lagos

About 4pm this evening, a Dana airline flight from Abuja to Lagos crash landed in the Iju area of Lagos. About 156 people are feared dead.

Please call and check on your loved ones. My heart goes out to all those involved and my prayers to all their family members.
We can not take this life for granted.