Airlines, agencies, others complied with AIB safety recommendations
- 31% awaits action
- AIB, NCAA chiefs tango over safety
Out of the 130 safety recommendations issued by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), 61 per cent of them have been fully implemented, eight partially implemented and 31 per cent yet to be fully implanted as at last year.
In all, the AIB has now released a total of 46 accident reports and 178 safety recommendations in total since the inception of the agency in 2007.
These safety recommendations are said to be very important towards preventing re-occurrence of similar accidents or serious incidents and when adhered to can impact air safety positively, not only in Nigeria but also globally.
This was contained in AIB safety recommendation committee report of 2018 made available to Woleshadarenews.
The committee’s report is at variance with comments made by the Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Usman Muhtar, that his agency and AIB’s quarterly meeting to review all safety recommendations and implementation status had not been held in the last two years.
Muktar said the quarterly meeting with AIB was initiated in 2016 and was held with AIB and the NCAA alternatively hosting and was very productive.
“However, the meeting has not held for about two years now, though there are evidences of NCAA requesting for its recommencement,” he revealed.
According to him, in the last quarter of 2014, the then Minister of Aviation set up a Ministerial Committee on Nigerian Aviation Industry Aircraft Accident Reports Status (NAIAARS) with the Terms of Reference amongst, which are: “To collate all Nigerian Aviation Industry aircraft accident reports from 2000 till date and determine the status of all reports and recommendations.
Olateru said that Muhtar was economical with the truth, as he showed members of NCAA that met in its last meeting few months ago. The meetings he said produced a report detailing actions that led to the attainment of 61 per cent of the recommendations that were fully implemented.
In the 222 page report, the committee strongly recommends that the issue of funding of Nigeria Police Force Airwing should be addressed with urgency as the current lack of funds has hindered their capability in meeting critical safety standards.
It was observed that 27 engineers and 35 pilots were recently employed, but are yet to undergo any form of training while working on the NPF aircraft. The training programme has not been implemented due to lack of funds.
It would be recalled that the NPF Airwing established an Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO) and has been certified since 2014.
The committee’s visit to FAAN headquarters and two of its regional offices revealed that one of its major challenges is that of power generation and distribution in all airports. The power distribution to agencies for their daily operations is quite epileptic with no reliable back up power supply.
On the implementation level, 29 safety recommendations have fully been implemented in NCAA, two partial implementation and six yet to be implemented.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has recommendations implemented with one not implemented, while the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has eight that have been fully implemented, three partially-implemented and two not implemented.
Bristow Helicopters has implemented fully 15 of the recommendations with only one recommendation not yet implemented.
OAS Helicopters has implemented two of the recommendations while one is yet to be implemented. Nigeria Police only partially implanted one recommendation.
Skyway Aviation Plc. (SAHCo) is yet to implement three of the recommendations, leaving it with just one partially implemented.
