Executive lawlessness versus aviation safety rules

Nigeria is a country full of wonderful people consisting of different shades of citizens and leaders running the affairs of the country.

Ordinarily, Nigeria is supposed to be one of the best countries existing, for reasons such as its peculiarity, its strategic location and being a country with the largest concentration of black race, endowed with highly cerebral people with God-given natural resources.

With all these wherewithal, the country should be on the same pedestal with developed countries like the USA, Britain and Germany.

On the contrary, this country has continued to display different traits that have left people in other climes to wonder what the problem or problems are.

Without waiting for an outsider to state what the problems are, it is obvious that the major problem with Nigeria lies in bad leadership traced to all the cadres of government starting from the center, states and even local governments.

Here in Nigeria, once you attain any position in any of these three echelons, every other person becomes a nonentity, hence, while the law of the land is meant for them (nonentities). Once you belong to any of these three powerful classes, you are a scared cow and automatically above the law.

This is a far departure from what obtains in other climes where those who belong to the high statuses are expected to comply with the laws of their countries as other citizens look up to them.

Once you attain any of these classes in Nigeria, you have the power to do and undo no matter how dangerous that action may be. In other words, these people who constitute the majority of the public office holders, including the politicians, fit into this abuse of power once they get into such offices.

In Nigeria, there are two types of laws with the toughest meant for the ordinary Nigerians while the ‘weak’ or harmless laws are applicable to the high class. Little wonder why such laws made for the benefit of the whole country hardly work in view of the executive recklessness often displayed by members of the three statuses which only end up making the entire country a laughing stock before the whole world.

The abuse of power continues; the latest being the nauseating gross misconduct of some of this set of people popularly referred to as the ‘VIPs’ to the COVID-19 safety protocol measures introduced to save the lives of air travelers across the country’s airports.

The safety rules which are not peculiar to Nigeria in view of the pandemic nature of the virus, as simple as they are meant to be, have suddenly become a big deal amongst the VIPs in Nigeria.

The country’s aviation sector last week was enmeshed in news of executive recklessness displayed by some notable citizens who thought because they are too big, failed to submit to the COVID-19 safety screenings at some airports.

As the saying goes, ‘penny wise pound foolish’, these so called VIPs became so drunk with power that they forgot to realize that COVID-19 has no respect for statuses as witnessed in the caliber of those the pandemic have sent to their untimely deaths.

Ordinarily, this reckless attitude would have been overlooked if the consequences of the noncompliance with the COVID-19 rules would only backfire on whoever disobeys it, but for the impacts on innocent people, there is therefore the need for stringent measures to be applied when these rules are flouted henceforth.

The time has come for the government to remind these law-breakers that the airport rules do not exempt them, hence, whether you are a governor, a minister, a local government chairman, a politician or you belong to the corporate cadre, it is the same airport law that is applicable to you and that ordinary air traveler.

Nigeria’s VIPs should drop their toga of recklessness at home or in their offices while coming to board flights at any airport for the safety of other travelers.

The VIPs should realise the fact that the airport workers working to keep the airports safe and secure during this pandemic are also professionals in their areas of calling in line with international civil aviation standard and recommended practices and therefore, should not be put under unnecessary pressure by law-breakers.

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