Dana plane crash: No compensation yet for loss of my husband – Minister

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri has said that the family has not been paid any compensation over a year after losing her husband, Professor Celestine Onwuliri in the Dana Air crash.

She stated this while speaking to journalists at a remembrance service in honour of her husband held at the Good Shepherd Catholic Chaplaincy of the University of Jos.

She said apart from the initial condolence visit the family has not heard from the airline again.

The minister said her husband will be remembered for his hardwork and patriotism in the educational sector adding, “I want Nigerians to remember him for his kindness, patriotism, hard work and for his expansion and strengthening of the educational sector.”

She added that Late Prof. Celestine Onwuliri should be remembered by Nigerians as a deeply religious person and a great family man, “who loved his wife, children and indeed people that come across him”.

Speaking at the memorial service, Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Prof. Hayward Babale Mafuyai described the late Prof. Onwuliri who was once an acting vice chancellor of the university, as “a man of excellence, full of compassion, kindness and mercy, and very brilliant in all the things he did.”

Mafuyai said: “In UNIJOS, we will miss his counsel, people have spoken of his charity, all of us should learn the tenets from his life and family especially in the area of giving, helping the needy and we should learn from them.”

He described him as an accomplished academia who has contributed a lot to the development of the University of Jos and other institutions of learning in the country.

In his goodwill message, the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama said “until his death he was a loyal catholic faithful, who would defend the cause of his faith at all time.

Chaplain of the Good Shepherd Catholic Chaplaincy of the University of Jos, Rev. Fr. Anthony Enokela in his sermon  urged the congregation to prepare for death and admonished them on the need to condole with the bereaved, even as he appealed to them to continue to pray for the family he left behind.