Call 767...God Will Rescue You

 No. It's not the Argungu fishing festival in that picture. It is not the Bonny Regatta either. What you see there is the Lagos Lagoon with our world-class Emergency 'Rescue' team.

So, following the sanitation exercise on Saturday, January 26, I dashed out of the Island en-route Magodo. It was just a little after 10:35am and I had just passed the Adekunle exit of the Third Mainland Bridge when I noticed 'something' flew off the Bridge into the lagoon. What followed was chaos as cars began parking as curious Lagosians leaned over the railings on the bridge to catch a glimpse of this 'unidentified flying object'. I immediately knew it had to be a vehicle. What else could it have been!

Mr Shola Oladimeji must have been a regular Lagosian till that fateful morning. When he drove out of his home that morning, I am certain he could not have guessed he would end up at the bottom of the Lagos lagoon a few minutes later. How he survived such a freak accident in Lagos, I will never understand. Never! What I do understand is that, first, he is alive because Jehovah has a specific mission for him which he is yet to achieve and second, he was not 'rescued' by our efficient Emergency services in Lagos a.k.a '7-6-7'.

Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria. Does this picture above look like a 21st century shot? If you leave out the lone blue-roofed marine police boat, the picture could pass for a 1944 Ijaw regatta. This is the response team we despatched to save Mr Oladimeji.

The majority of the rescue men were Ijaw fishermen going about their normal 'daily bread' search. These are the same people, Governor Fashola insists are distorting his 'Eko Mega City' image and went after their cousins like a rabid canine some months back. I hope Governor Fashola understands that these fellows are a crucial part of our ecosystem in Lagos. Not only are they an established source of smoked fish, they are now the core -at least from this picture- of our marine Emergency response squad. Hounding them in the name of a factitious mega city will be to our own detriment and will be tantamount to grave folly on our part as Lagosians.

If Raji Fashola asked me -which I know he never would- I would advice him to develop these aquatic communities by mobilizing huge funds for sanitation and health. BRF can encourage these ones by siting standard schools in the communities with well paid teachers. He can site primary health centres among them to cater to the needs of the Ijaws. A vocational centre where skill acquisition in canoe construction and net assemblage can be gained will help. Alternative energy infrastructure to help these ones conserve their products will be appreciated instead of sending the Ministry of Environment after them. Venice in Italy, is a city built entirely on water and is now a foremost tourist centre in the world. When we chase them all from our 'mega city', will this one marine boat suffice in responding to distress calls?

In June 2008, I understand another banker plunged into the lagoon and was not as lucky as Mr Shola Oladimeji. The rescue men were probably asleep as not much fishing goes on at night. From what I gather, rescue operations did not start till 4a.m even though the accident occurred the previous night. While this is totally unconfirmed, I won't be startled if it holds some iota of truth. What this tells us that without those Ijaws, we are practically helpless in the event of marine accidents. Time and chance happens to us all. To Mr Oladimeji, fate chose 10am. Replace that a.m with p.m and Mr Oladimeji would be a dead man by now.

It then begs the question. Who exactly is responsible for such emergency responses? The FRSC? The Police? NEMA? All of the aforementioned? Does the government have any other equipment apart from this lone marine boat and the heavy duty equipment it 'borrows' from Julius Berger? Do the people in government watch CNN and see the manner of specialized equipment and manpower despatched in the event of exigencies? Do we have marine response units that are well trained and undergo regular drills? Your guesses as to the answers to these questions are as good as mine. Capital N-O. We all saw the Costa Concordia drama in Italy. That is the kind of response you expect from serious nations of the world.

Nigeria is a reactive nation. A docile and indolent bunch. Nobody thinks of anything till disaster strikes. We didn't audit our aviation sector till that Dana plane smashed into homes in Iju. We didn't wonder about routine maintenance till that Navy helicopter plummeted into the swamps in Bayelsa in December. We will not review our emergency services till it fails a 'big man' though the lack of them kills Nigerians like ants everyday. We will wait and say it is well.

I am reminded of a story on Newsline in the days of Frank Olize many years ago. A house was burning in Ikoyi. The owner of the property, a lady, allegedly called the fire service and was told there was no water in the trucks. She parted with money for the fire service to buy water and diesel. Somewhere on the way to the burning house, the truck broke down and the firemen sat looking aloof while the driver 'formed' activity by sticking his head into the engine compartment trying to fix the malfunction. All this while, the house kept burning.

Please note, this does not mean you should not call 767 when you have or notice an emergency. Hopefully, they'll respond better to you than they did me a year ago. The ambulance was despatched, it just never got to me.

May God help us.