Follow Us on Google
Chinelo Obogo
The issue of whether it is mandatory to implement all safety recommendations by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has generated intense controversy in recent months.
Established in 2007 by the Federal Government, the AIB is statutorily empowered to investigate air accidents and serious incidents within Nigeria with the sole aim of profering solutions to mitigate similar occurrences in the future. But in the last three years, with investments in a most modern laboratory and skilled manpower, it has expanded its scope of operations to other West African countries.
Without doubt, recommendations issued at the end of investigations by the AIB have gone a long way in curbing accidents in the Nigerian airspace, with safety recommendations impacting positively the operations of airlines, pilots, police, airport managers, Air Traffic Controllers, fire fighters, and the Nigerian civil Aviation Authority.
If there is an incident or accident, it is not the duty of the affected airline to immediately give reasons or state what led to the incident. The agency saddled with that responsibility is the AIB and it is only when it has concluded investigations that any comment on the issue can be made and full disclosures are critical so that other players in the industry could draw useful lessons to avoid making similar mistakes.
All agencies in the aviation industry work together to achieve one aim, which is safety and when there is an occurrence, it is classified in line with the ICAO Annex 13 and extant laws. The law empowers the AIB commissioner to institute investigation into any incident if he thinks it will improve safety in the industry by doing so.
AIB, NCAA at loggerheads
Sadly, some safety recommendations issued by the AIB lately have not been implemented forcing it to raise the alarm on possible implications to safety by the concerned agencies, especially the NCAA.
Daily Sun learnt that, although, there has been no love lost between the AIB and NCAA, the latter has however complained that it was not bound to comply 100 per cent to some recommendations of the AIB, not when the associated cost is considered exhorbitant. It is a fued fuelled more by who is most statutorily established to regulate safety between the NCAA and AIB. And it is not helped by the fact that some of AIB’s recommendations on air accidents have clearly indicted the NCAA for negligence and complicity.
At a recent stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos, the former Director General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren advocated effective communication between the two agencies saying there is no need for competition between NCAA and AIB. He said though both NCAA and AIB have one thing in common – which is to promote safety and prevent accident – there has been so much unnecessary competition between the two that is not helpful to the industry.
Citing global best practices and what obtains in the United States, Demuren said: “NTSB (National Transportation and Safety Board) of the United State, the equivalent of AIB, does not have authority to enforce safety recommendations.”
Indeed, the essence of accident investigations is not punitive but preventive, and the reason is to allow voluntary information from concerned parties.
“About 82 per cent of all recommendations of NTSB have been closed, meaning they have been implemented. About 6 per cent are still open. Historically, 12 per cent will never be implemented. We should have effective communication between the regulator and the investigator in order to promote safety and prevent accidents” said Demuren.
But Akin Olateru, the Commissioner of AIB, would not accept Demuren’s assertion as he holds the view that both NCAA and AIB cannot sit down together to issue safety recommendations in case of an incident or accident.
According to Olateru, once an incident or accident occurs, everyone including NCAA is a suspect, and as regulator the NCAA cannot be a judge in its own case.
Olateru said the AIB can send out safety recommendations, while the onus of implementation however lies with NCAA. He said AIB is not a policeman, but simply an investigator of incidents and accidents with the aim of preventing reoccurrence.
He said some safety recommendations of AIB has helped to prevent accidents, but wondered why some players in Nigeria are reluctant to implement its recommendations.
Way forward
A former for Commissioner of AIB, Sam Odudelu, said the agency was created to work in collaboration with other parrastatals and stakeholders to ensure compliance with basic aviation safety rules and regulations.
He said: “The autonomy granted the AIB is to ensure its independence from government bureaucracy and political influence as well as ensuring the credibility of its reports. Beyond accident investigation, the AIB was created to work in collaboration with other parastatals and stakeholders to ensure compliance with basic aviation safety rules and regulations.”
The Ifeanyi Okike, National Coordinator, State Safety Programme, NCAA, said that contrary to the belief that there are issues between both agencies, the NCAA and AIB are working together to ensure the safety of airspace. “We are really coordinating with AIB. AIB and NCAA are the two authorities responsible for the safety programme in Nigeria. We are working towards the same goal and that goal is safe operations of aircrafts and safe Nigerian airspace,” Okike said
The former Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nnamdi Udoh, said that accident investigation is important and “makes for a proactive method of improving safety rather than the old reactive approach through prevention of accidents and incidents mechanism.”
At the end, every expert who spoke agreed that there is the need for constant and effective communication between the NCAA and AIB to achieve the desired collaboration on safety in the interest of nation’s aviation industry.
