Sun News Publishing
Friday, May 07, 2010

The recent death of a Nigerian stowaway on a Delta Airlines B777 Flight to America has once again highlighted gaps in security arrangements at our airports, and the desperation of Nigerians to leave the country, even at great risk to their lives.

The stowaway, identified as Emeka Okechukwu Okeke, was found dead in the nosewheel compartment of the aircraft on arrival in Atlanta, America. He is believed to be a victim of a syndicate that hides desperate passengers in different compartments of outbound aircraft.

Many such stowaways die from extreme cold in the sky and lack of oxygen, since some of the external compartments on aircraft are not pressurised. Some fall off the planes, while others are crushed to death by retracting aircraft gears or bay doors. Okeke’s corpse arrived the U.S., mangled, suggesting that he was crushed by retracting gears or some other equipment on the aircraft.

The death of Okeke is one of the manifestations of the impact of material poverty in the country, and the desperation to seek greener pastures abroad by youths. Many Nigerians desperately seek outlets outside the country, engaging in suicidal antics to achieve their aims. The trend, which has been on for many years now, is not limited to the rush by academics and medical professionals for positions in foreign countries, alone. Nigerians at the lower rungs of the social ladder, with hardly any education to help them appreciate the risk of stowing away, place their lives on the line after paying huge sums of money to unscrupulous syndicates at airports.

It is important to educate Nigerians on the grave risk that stowaways face in the air. The act is a gamble with life that is not worth the benefits imagined by those who engage in it.
But then, people who stowaway are often driven by their failure to find fulfillment in the country. The yearnings of many of our people to live productive lives in the country are not being realized. There is so much frustration in the country.

The general perception is that the nation is led by self-seeking individuals. The gap between the poor and the rich continues to widen. The youths see no future for themselves here, hence their desperation to escape to other countries. But, this is not the solution to their problems. Increasingly, those who make it outside the country find out that life is just as difficult in some of these other places.

We urge Nigerians to find within themselves the will to make a success of their lives here. They should work harder at improving their lot in the country, but if they must emigrate, they should do it through the proper and official channels. Attempting to stowaway is too risky a venture. It is sheer daredevilry in which the adventurer may not live to tell the story.

Nigeria is not the poorest country in the world. It is not the most difficult country to live in. People in countries where life is much more difficult manage to stay in their countries and work hard to make something of their lives. Instead of suicidal get-away bids, the youths can channel their energies to more useful pursuits to compel a change in the system that has left them disenfranchised.

Stowaways also expose shortcomings in security arrangements in our airports. If it is possible for a man to undermine airport security by stowing away on an aircraft, undetected by airline and airport workers, what stops such a man from planting a bomb on the plane? Coming so soon after a lone driver crashed through the security gates into an aircraft on the tarmac of Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, this incident has once again questioned the effectiveness of security arrangements at our airports.

Our aviation authorities must work harder to beef up security at the nation’s airports. The syndicate that is suspected of being behind the stowaways should be identified, apprehended and brought to book.

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