In this column last week, I discussed the issue of fatalities in the built environment and the consequential liability of the state actors. In summing up the discourse, I advocated the extension of the same principle of vicarious liability to all other spheres of public service operations. At the time of concluding the manuscript and submitting same to the publishers, little did I know that the unfortunate incident of Dr. Vwaere Diaso would be occurring. This incident, now tagged by the State Government as the 1st August, 2023, Elevator Incident, involved the untimely death of a medical doctor serving the state government and living in the provided doctors’ accommodation at the Lagos State General Hospital, Odan.
The doctor met her untimely death as a result of the malfunctioning of the elevator of the building, which crashed from the 10th floor to the ground. All she had bargained for a moment earlier was to rush down to collect her ordered dinner, unknown to her that death was lurking around the corner. I was rudely shocked to the marrow when I heard of the incident leading to the loss of the brilliant young lady, considering also the investments of her parents and the nation in her. Primal was the loss of a brilliant future, a glorious life and a great service awaiting humanity in the knowledge and skill of Dr. Vwaere Diaso. The late Dr. Diaso was ‘luckily’ for the state the sole occupant of the elevator at the time of the incident. This was how her abode of peace turned into an abode of death. What was meant to be her shield ended up being the trigger of her demise. What an irony! As this death is becoming one too many, it is with pain and anguish, therefore, that I am engaging in this discourse.
The event, which has earned public condemnation, including that of her professional association, Nigerian Medical Association, has equally grounded the delivery of medical service in the state, courtesy of the solidarity strike by the medical doctors. Beyond the various condemnations, several writeups on the issue have sprung up. Of interest to me however is that by Tara Aisida wherein the statement of Frank Sonnenberg was adopted as the title. As rightly opined by her, the title of the article, ‘The consequences of no consequence,’ aptly and succinctly captures the scenario under consideration.
Certainly, I agree that there is no better way to describe the emerging pattern in the state. As indiscretions and inefficience occur, and no sanction applies, the more emboldened state actors become in the perpetration of their recklessness and carelessness. Let me state unequivocally that the essence of this conversation is to draw the attention of the Governor of Lagos State and, by extension, the incoming cabinet to some pertinent issues of urgent importance in the agenda of the state that demand immediate attention. I am simply using the case of Dr. Diaso as a point of reference to say enough of the needless and avoidable deaths. As is known to all, the current dispensation is being birthed with the composition of the cabinet, notwithstanding the fact that the Governor is running a second term in office. I must not and cannot pretend that all was uhuru during the spent term. In fact, it is from that tenure that I observed the lacunae that I am addressing herein.
When events of this magnitude happen, we start interrogating the relevance of government in our lives! Are we really the focus of governance? Your guess is as good as mine. Suffice to state that there is so much impunity and ineptitude in the delivery of service by officials, thereby calling into question the dedication and fidelity of state actors to the maintenance of law and order and protection of lives and properties. Mr. Governor, by the time I am done with my discourse, all I desire and demand is the strengthening of the state’s institutions and enthronement of the concept of accountability in state officials. In doing this, I am concerned about the possibility of who is next. Or whose loved one is next? It is now becoming a game of chance. Before delving into that arena, however, permit me to, in a summary manner, review the case of the late Dr. Diaso, particularly in the light of the press release by the State Government highlighting the outcomes of the state investigation.
I start by appreciating the promptness of the investigation and the subsequent release of the report. Great improvement in this wise. However, just as I indicated in another intervention, the case at hand is what lawyers capture in the Latin maxim, res ipsa loquitor, meaning that the thing speaks for itself. By this, I meant that there is no need for any protracted investigation as the surrounding evidence of the event attests glaringly to negligence in some quarters. No one, I believe, is in doubt about the culpability of some people in the unfolding instance.
What ought to constitute really the focus of any investigation, therefore, is the degree of culpability. I believe this will be unveiled by the time we are responding to the following enquiries. Who was responsible for the maintenance of the buildings? What was the routine maintenance package for the building? Who ensures compliance with the plan? Where was the janitor? Likewise, the elevator operator? What was the emergency response plan, which birthed the waiting time of nearly an hour, but for the intervention of the doctor’s colleagues? Why is it that the management of the hospital was not involved in the maintenance of the building? As said elsewhere, I experienced the malfunction of the elevator a year ago, on my visit to a protégé in the building. From the release by the State Government, we need to know which facility management company was in charge. Who are those behind the said company?
Where is the elevator maintenance log book? Which company installed the elevator? We need to put faces to the characters behind the ‘evil’. Except this information is revealed, one is doubtful of the veracity of the content of the press release. I read also that the police force is to further carry out an investigation. I am certainly not comfortable with this as the initial probe ought to have revealed all those ordinarily culpable. The police investigation might signal the perpetual end of the unveiling of the culprits. Who are these people? It is after the ascertainment of these people in a transparent manner that they can then be handed over to the Nigeria Police for conclusion and prosecution. All those connected need to be unveiled so that even if at the end of the day they are not sanctioned, some elements of shame on them can serve as a deterrent. My plea. Now returning to the core issue.
Mr. Governor, I am not too sure that you know that there are so many open manholes all over the state that are daily maiming and murdering our people. So many people have lost their legs and limbs due to falling into the drains through the open manholes; so many children have been flushed away to death after falling into the manholes during rainy seasons.
Is Mr. Governor aware of how many accidents have occurred due to the carelessness of state contractors due to the abandonment of equipment and debris on road sites? I know that Mr. Governor is aware that a sizeable number of buildings and structures in the state are unhealthy but yet continue to endanger human lives. In fact, I reckon that in the next few years, there will be more building collapses, except urgent audit of extant structures is done. Buildings of the last 10 years need be audited as most of them lack compliance in one form or the other. Is Mr. Governor aware that most public buildings are becoming unfit for habitation? Mr. Governor may wish to check the railings of the stairs in the Tafawa Balewa building housing the Lagos High Court Division presently.
I am sure that it is no news that benches that lawyers and litigants sit on in courts collapse regularly, wounding several of them. Potholes and craters still continue to dot the landscapes of our roads, turning them into famished roads. Most of these potholes ought to have been arrested as they opened up, but neglect would never allow that to happen until the road fails. Live wires abound in the crannies of the city. I can continue to replicate them endlessly. As I remarked in one of my interventions, how do you mandate my vehicle to be roadworthy when the roads plied by my vehicle are not car-worthy?
This really is not equitable. Mr Governor, we need to intervene in all these and many more areas grieving for attention before more lives are lost. The question is for how long are we going to bear this? We have already lost count of the number of deaths resulting from the building collapses, and now adding these other ancillary ones is frightening. If the purpose of government is the protection of her citizens, then something radical must happen. Public buildings are largely becoming death traps. The Diaso incident must not be allowed to go the way of Ikoyi building collapse and others. This must be a test of the resolve of the leadership to tackle this menace of impunity. Should the leadership fail in this respect, I am somehow sure that the soul of the departed will continue to haunt those responsible.
Mr. Governor, the ball is in your court as we need to make people scapegoats and set the right precedent for the future. Diaso has paid the supreme price for the inefficiency and corruption in the system. Her death must not be allowed to be in vain. Anything less is not acceptable? In concluding, I express my condolence to the family and the loved ones of late Dr Vwere Diaso and the nation at large. May her soul rest in peace. Her death must signal the termination of lack of accountability in our system. Never again must we allow this to happen.
Just in the same vein, I wish to appeal to the Nigerian Medical Association while commiserating with the association to sheathe the sword in terms of the strike. Let us not allow more deaths which are inevitable if the association continues with the strike. It is most unlikely that those responsible for the deaths and the inefficiency in the system that has caused Vwaere’s death are likely to be the victims of the strike. It is the masses that will still bear the brunt. Let us glorify the soul of the departed by using the occasion to drive home the point of effective leadership through calling off the strike and adopting alternative approach to make our point. Two wrongs do not make a right. If the leadership is in a trance, let us not join them. Long live the Nigerian Medical Association.