The Tragic Ogunmakin Accident: Ricochets of A Failing System



Mrs. Onakomaiya

-          Wole Adejumo

After the usual “good mornings”, I looked at her on that particular day and said “they should provide accommodation for you in that place”. She smiled and from the smile, I understood accommodation from her employers was out of the question. I didn’t stop there; “or maybe you should rent a place in that locality and come home on weekends”, I suggested. Again, she smiled before answering. The smile and calmness with which she responded notwithstanding, the answer made me shudder. “Even if they provide accommodation, I cannot live there. The people of the community are too hostile. They are hostile to strangers. That is why I cannot stay there. One of our colleagues lived there. On the first weekend that he went home, his place was burgled”, she told me. Not satisfied, I asked her “what about getting transferred from there ma?” She shook her head as she said “I just got transferred to the place, besides, I am the only Maths teacher. So, that may not happen soon”.

Mrs. Aderonke Majekodunmi Olaluyi

That was my last conversation with Mrs. Oluwabukola Onakomaiya, a classmate at the Word of Victory Bible Training Institute and a worthy sister. It was in the last week of June, less than a week before she and two of her colleagues, Mrs. Giwa and Mrs. Aderonke Majekodunmi Olaluyi were killed by a car that lost control at Ogunmakin. I usually met them and a number of their other colleagues at the old Ibadan Toll Gate almost on a daily basis. The designated point where my colleagues and I normally boarded the staff bus was a few metres away from where they waited to board vehicles to their school.

Their dedication to duty has not ceased to amaze me. The taught in a school in Ogun State, they lived in Ibadan and they reported for work every morning! Shortly before the unfortunate accident that claimed their lives, 42-year-old Mrs. Giwa called her mother who was helping her take care of her child who was ill to tell her she was done with the day’s work and would be back shortly. She had even called earlier to remind the caring grandmother to ensure the ailing child used the prescribed medication. Sadly, she never returned home alive.

We all talk of the country being polarized along ethno-religious lines and complain about terror attacks, killings by herdsmen and militia groups without asking ourselves to look inward. We fail to ask ourselves one question, as humans, how much do we love our neighbours?

With incidents like this, one gets to ask so many questions. Perhaps if the employers had provided accommodation, the three teachers would not have lost their lives. At least they wouldn’t be at that spot waiting for a vehicle to convey them to Ibadan.

And if the villagers, whose children they were teaching, had attached enough value to education and were not hostile to visitors, perhaps they would all have been working and living happily in that village and no family would have been thrown into mourning by the unfortunate accident. It is saddening to note that hatred for fellow humans has become a normal thing and the value attached to human life has become abysmally low.

No amount of blame trading, complaints or petitions can return the dead. They will only continue to live in our memories. It is however not too late to make a change. The authorities might have to be told to look into the plight of workers; especially the hardship they need to endure in the line of duty. Better working conditions should be provided. The teachers would be replaced, but if the hostility towards teachers continues, God forbid, but the lives of those to replace them might also be in danger as they would be forced to ply the express to get back to their homes.

Every individual too should look inwards and think, that stranger you look at with disdain is just as human as you are. If Nigeria will ever change, it is in our hands.