The week started on a very sad note. On Sunday, March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on its way to Nairobi, Kenya, crashed near Bishoftu in Ethiopia six minutes after takeoff from Bole International Airport.
157 passengers and crew members on board died including Nigerian columnist and satirist Professor Pius Adesanmi.
The tragic event sent shock waves around the world and led to airlines and countries grounding the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the plane model that crashed on that dark Sunday.
On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, a three-storey building collapsed at Ita-Faaji in Lagos Island.
Ohen Nursery and Primary School was located in the building during the collapse, trapping hundred of school kids and adults.
20 people have been confirmed dead . Collapsed buildings are nothing new in Lagos sadly. The unfortunate incident once again brought up the nagging issue of poorly constructed buildings in the city.
The three-storey building that collapsed was reportedly said to have been earmarked for demolition. It was never demolished. The lives that were lost and the people that were injured are victims of an incompetent system.
On the same day, in the city of Onitsha in Anambra state, the driver of a tanker carrying 33,000 litres of kerosene lost control and ran into other vehicles, killing seven and injuring a dozen others.
This sad event is similar to the tanker explosion that happened in June 2018 in Lagos. The Anambra State Police Command has arrested the tanker driver whose name is Junior Agari.
On Friday, March 15, 2019, in New Zealand, 50 Muslim worshippers were killed by two gunmen at two mosques in Christchurch.
According to Business Insider "41 people were killed with an automatic weapon at the Masjid Al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue, and eight others were shot by a separate gunman at a mosque in Linwood, 3.5 miles to the east."
Also on the same day, a two-storey building collapsed in the city of Ibadan, Oyo state. Fortunately, according to the Oyo state government, no lives were lost.
This past week has been a terrible one globally and nationally. We hope this new week fares better.