Remembering The Dead, Neglecting The Living

LISA Village Bellview Crash 10 Years After…
RESIDENTS of Lisa and its neighbouring communities that once hosted the ill-fated plane crash of ten years ago, have rue the collapse of its infrastructures, due to government’s neglect.

Last Thursday, the early morning sun shone brightly after a downpour on Lisa town, a sleepy community in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State. Though the people went about their daily routines, the memory of the tragic incident of October 22, 2005, remained fresh.

Not many would remember Lisa town, the site of the ill-fated Boeing 737 plane, owned by the defunct Bellview Airline, which claimed the lives of 117 people. It was a tragic incident that threw the whole nation into a mournful mood, but 10 years after, most Nigerians, government, and friends of the victims harbour a faint memory of the grief.

Like the graveyard it is, the unusual silence that pervade the Lisa Memorial Arcade and Garden, last week, was disappointing based on the expectation that the 10th year anniversary would be marked more sobriety and honour for the 117 victims.

Ten years down the lane, the arcade is fast waning. The floor is already cracking, name-tags attached to the gravestones already falling off and the paints too fading, despite the fact that it was repainted last year by First Nation Airline, that bought over the defunct Bellview.

The entrance to the arcade has become muddy due to lack of drainage system, to ensure easy passage of water. Aside these, the surrounding bushes have overgrown, stretching into the arcade due to lack of maintenance.

It was a nightmare gaining entrance to the sleepy community due to the awful state of the road that was constructed by government after the incident. The rainy season had made the matter worst, as vehicles got stuck on the road.

From the Sango end through Ijoko/Ogba-Iyo, the road is devastating, to the extent that commuter drivers shun the axis, but for the commercial motorcycle operators who charge exorbitantly, it would have been impossible task for anybody to get there.

It will not be overstatement to say the victims are crying from the grave, due to neglect and total abandonment by government.

Aside government, even tourists who had shown interest in making the arcade a tourist site have actually shunned the place. Of the entire 117 victims’ relations, only two families showed up to remember their loved ones.

They attributed this to the state of the road, which discouraged people who dare visit the community. It was also gathered that both tOgun State and the Federal Government have abandoned the place. One of those who visited the site, Mrs. Victoria Olumekun, whose husband, Mr. Johnson Olumekun, a former Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council also died in the crash, while on official assignment told The Guardian that the road is a major factor discouraging people from visiting the arcade. While appealing to government to ensure the urgent rehabilitation of the road and maintenance of the cenotaph, she noted that they were adequately compensated by the defunct airline.

The Baale of the community, Chief Najeem Oladele Odugbemi, lamented that what the government put in place for the memory of the victims has not been kept. He stated that government at state and federal levels have not kept their promises to the community. The community leader said the memorial arcade has been left to rot away like other projects in Nigeria. He said the state of the road had gone back to its sorry state before the crash. “The primary duty of the government is to take care of the people and provide security. We applied through the State Police command for the approval of a police station for us and we did the foundation in 2008, with my personal effort and we have reached a level where government and the police should help us to complete it to become operational. There should be a health centre, the nearest hospital to us is in Ota and is about 40 kilometres from this place. How could a community live without health centre, not to talk about hospital and I started the building of a health centre, which has reached completion. “We have also built a market to empower our women and it is duly registered. These are the things we are doing, we are even contemplating putting up a secondary school here, I have acquired over two acres of land for that too, I even used my personal money to buy land from my own people here, if government comes tomorrow that they need land to build school, for us the land is already secured. There are also lands for primary school. These are my visions for Lisa and we are working towards that,” he said.

He pleaded with the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun to make true all the promises made by his commissioners who visited Lisa years back to inspect ongoing projects, saying they should fulfill them as soon as possible. “All we are saying is that we need government’s support, we have taken over the responsibility of government, because these are their duties, government is a father to every one of us and as a father they must cater for whoever is under them,” he said.

The Community Development Committee chairman of the area, Apostle Akinsola Akinwale suggested that government should rise up to fulfill its promises.

He said; “We want their presence in Lisa. This place has been neglected, it is now in a dilapidated form. We are wasting resources in this country, the arcade should be a tourist centre where people from far and near would see what we have to showcase.”
He appealed to government to rehabilitate the road and make the arcade a monument, where children can come for excursion from their schools. “It is very unfortunate that we lost lives, but yet government should come to our aid,” he said.

The chairman Transition Committee, Ifo Local Government, Dr. Adeola Kiadese, who represented the state governor commiserated and identified with the family of the deceased. He promised that the local government will open the health centre in Lisa any moment from now, with equipment and qualified staff, assuring that the grading of the intra-community road will commence immediately after the raining season.