By Toye Olori
LAGOS, May 6 2002 (IPS)

Flags were flying at half-mast Monday in all government offices throughout Nigeria, as the West African nation mourns victims of the weekend plane crash in the northern city of Kano.

A grief-stricken Olusegun Obasanjo cut short his four-nation trip to Southern Africa and returned to Nigeria where he ordered immediate investigations into the causes of the crash.

Declaring a two-day mourning, President Obasanjo ordered the national flags to be flown at half-mast on Sunday and Monday. A memorial service was Sunday held at the State House in the capital Abuja in memory of the victims, which include the Minister of Sports, Ishaya Mark-Aku.

In a nation-wide broadcast, Obasanjo said: “I convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in the air crash.”

“This is an accident that calls for immediate and detailed investigation to ascertain the cause or causes and to prevent reoccurrence.”

“Those who pay money to travel fast and safe by air, must be assured of their security and safety at all times,” said the Nigerian leader.

This is the second time in less than four months that Nigeria is mourning the loss of lives of its nationals. On Jan 29, Obasanjo declared a day of national mourning, with flags flown at half-mast, when an ammunition store exploded, killing 1000 people, mostly women and children, at Ikeja military barracks in Lagos on Jan 27.

The Kano State government also declared Monday a public holiday to mourn the dead, whose toll had risen from 106 to 160 on Monday.

Ibrahim Mamman, Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, has confirmed that the black box of the ill-fated plane BAC1-11 has been found. It will be sent abroad to determine the state of the aircraft, before and during the accident.

The second black box, which is yet to be recovered, is expected to reveal the communication between the pilots, the crew and the control tower.

Mamman says only five people have survived the crash. They include a General in the army, a crewmember, two passengers and an unidentified Lebanese.

The flight manifest released by EAS Airlines shows that 47 passengers boarded the plane in Jos, capital of the Plateau State, while 21 boarded in Kano from where the plane plunged from the sky — just three minutes after takeoff — into a densely populated area of the city.

Idris Adama, spokesperson for the EAS, says arrangements are underway to transport the relatives of the victims to Kano to help identify the recovered bodies.

Nigeria has recorded a number of air disasters in recent years. Available records show that the worst air crash that has ever affected Nigeria’s aviation industry occurred in 1992 at Ejigbo canal in Lagos, where a military plane crashed shortly after takeoff killing 167 army officers aboard.

In 1996, a plane belonging to the Aviation Development Company (ADC) crashed at Ejinrin-Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, killing all 142 passengers on board. In 2000, a Kenyan Airways aircraft crashed in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire claiming the lives of 133 Nigerians. In June last year, a small plane crashed near Lagos killing two passengers.

Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim, in a message signed by Ken Ogaziechi, his Special Adviser on Media Matters, described Saturday’s crash as one of the worst in Africa in recent times.

“It is with so much pain in my heart that I commiserate with the families of those who perished in the national disaster as well as the management of Executive Air Services (EAS),” he said. “The incident poses a challenge to all Nigerians, especially to the authorities of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency on the state of aviation in the country.”

The death of Aku, who was appointed less than two years ago, has affected sports fans and officials in Nigeria.

“Aku brought a lot of dynamism into sports in his 15-month tenure, which was terminated by death. We will miss him,” says Harrison Jalla, President of the National Association of Nigerian Footballers.

Taiwo Ogunjobi, Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Association, described the late sports minister as committed to the revival of the country’s dying sports.

“There is no doubt that the Nigerian sports scene and indeed its soccer would surely miss the contributions and services of the late minister,” Ogunjobi said in a statement, made available to IPS this week.

Excerpt: