NSIB has no mandate to bring down airlines, we follow the facts-Badeh Jr

Following its strategic transition from the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to the Presidency, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) is expanding its multimodal remit across air, maritime, rail, and road networks. In this wide-ranging interview with WOLE SHADARE, NSIB Director-General, Captain Alex Badeh Jr. provides crucial updates on the agency’s legislative transition, operational autonomy under the Office of the National Security Adviser, and ongoing capacity building for investigations into waterways and surface transport.

 I want you to give us an update on the NSIB repositioning drive. The relocation from the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to the presidency- how far have you gone in this regard? Have you completed the relocation move? What stage are you currently at?

As far as I know, we have relocated, and we’ve been repositioned. All we’re waiting on is the Attorney-General because, in the President’s directives, he was directed to initiate amendments to our Establishment Act and send them to the National Assembly. As far as I know, we have relocated, and we’ve been repositioned. All we’re waiting on is the Attorney-General because, in the President’s directives, he was directed to initiate amendments to our Establishment Act and send them to the National Assembly. So not just by presidential fiat, but it’s an act of law. So as of this week, I know the memos are with the Attorney General; these things take a bit of time. The Attorney General has a memo on his desk, and he should present it to the Federal Executive Council whenever the opportunity arises. I’m not sure how that process works. I can’t preempt a formal legislative process or their own processes. But yes, we are. We report to the presidency now through the Office of the NSA. So work is ongoing on that. It’s just waiting on that legislative process to finish. I hope that answers your question. I guess I’m here to brief you on key areas. The Bureau has been on since our position in the presidency in the past year or so. Well, it happened this year, but since we spoke, of course, we’ve done a few other things here in the Bureau. Since we last spoke, we have a new set of conditions of service here as well. We’re collaborating more closely with NIMASA and NIWA at this time. We’ve strengthened our collaboration with the NRC.

I know NSIB is penetrating the maritime industry because some agencies were a little bit territorial when NSIB had its mandate for funding. Can we not say that the NSIB is fully grounded in the maritime industry? Can we say that if any accident breaks out today on our waterways, the NSIB will go fully?

 You talked about the resistance we got from the agencies in the maritime industry. And of course, your first question was whether we’re fully ready to, I guess, assume our multimodal mandates. Short answer is yes, we are. And I would say that for the maritime and rail sectors, we do have the expertise. Also on the road, we have the expertise. On the maritime side, we have about six maritime accident investigators. We just wrapped up a really high-level training session with them, including reps from the MAIB and the University of Portsmouth; if I recall, they’re actually here at our training school in Abu Dhabi. We’re utilising our training school. So, for much of our training now, we don’t need to go abroad. We’re now bringing in those foreign resource persons to Nigeria and training more of our people. So we have the core maritime people. In fact, they’re finishing up a quick workshop today. They’ve been training for the past two weeks. All those maritime people we hired in the past year, we’ve actually trained them, cross-trained them on the air side of things. But as you know, investigation is fairly similar. A lot of our investigations are similar. It’s the same interview process and all that, just with slight nuances in the expertise. So I would say we’re fully grounded on the maritime side. We downloaded the voyage data recorder. We’ve analysed it in the lab, and they are working on that. So, of course, the maritime investigations aren’t as tight as the aviation ones where you have 30-day timelines and whatever. But we’re trying to fine-tune that internally at the NSIB, so we have simple formats for all our investigations. So that will be coming out here soon. But yes, we are fully ready to assume the multimodal investigation mandates, especially on the maritime side. On the road side, just a little, I guess, admin thing here. We actually have somebody, a really experienced

road accident investigator who happens to work at the road safety. And I think he’s in, I don’t know how many of our ranks, but he’s pretty high up there, and he’s worked with us a lot. So he’s actually coming to the NSIV on secondment now to do the roadside side of things. Our investigators have already worked on many road accident investigations. They’ve already used our event data recorder download analyser. We, as you know, I’ve said this a few times, we actually did the Anthony Joshua accident investigation.

We’ve sent our reports to the police and other relevant stakeholders before sending them out. So we’re waiting for them. We’re giving them 30 days, as we do in aviation- 30 to 60 days. There’s no rulebook that says we have to give them that amount of time to get back to us. But we sent it to them within the past month, and we’re waiting for their comments. Once they do, we’ll publish it on our website as the road accident report. And we did the same for a few other ones.

I want to know, since your transition from the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to the presidency, whether anything has changed regarding aviation’s continued role within the TSC. Secondly, there was a recent public hearing where I think some agencies, or at least one, are actually clamouring for your share of that TSC to be reduced further. Does that not impact on your – what do you think about that generally? Let me not put the question into your mouth because I think the TSC, whether – I don’t know whether the presidency is going to be funding redirect and then they remove the TSC, or whether the TSC itself can be augmented, just like you still collect from maritime and every other agency; you still need to collect from aviation. So, one reason is to understand the funding dynamics. Has anything changed regarding those funding dynamics? Because there’s a clamour for NSIB’s share of the 13% that it gets from the 5% to be reduced further to like 4%?

13% TSC from the NCAA we share. That’s between us and NCAT, I think. We’re at 6% right now, and they’re at 7%. That’s what you’re asking. We’re at 6% right now, and they’re at 7%. That’s what you’re asking. Recently, yes, I saw the bill. I’m not sure what’s going on, but someone proposed to reduce our 6% to 4%. I’m not sure what the rationale is because they’re trying to increase theirs. And before I go further, I’ll say, well, if you think safety is expensive, try an accident. So, with this proposed reduction, of course, it’s going to negatively affect the NSIB. Now, with regard to the other agencies that are supposed to give the NSIB money or fund it to carry out its role, you know, everybody has their own take and arguments. Right now with the Presidency, we’re working on a more sustainable funding formula for the NSIB. I’m not sure how that’s going to look, and I can’t speak to it yet. But we are talking with the NRC and the presidency to figure this out. As you know, we’re supposed to get 6% TSC. So, I’m hoping that with the new year and the new budget, once we get a new budget code, and once everything is said and done, and hopefully the government kind of settles, we should be able to have figured out our funding situation. Of course, we all know NIMASA; there’s still a little back-and-forth, but right now we’re just working on getting an MOU with NIMASA so we can both, you know, do our roles here. We, being the accident investigators for our no-blame accident investigations, and they, being the regulator to enforce our safety recommendations. But to answer your question, it will negatively affect us, reducing us from 6% to 4%. I understand the argument that a patient seems to be funding other modes. Since we know it’s all a work in progress, the NSIB is a young agency. The AIB, of course, being older, NSIB now came from AIB.

How does NSIB ensure investigations remain independent, especially when government-owned agencies or politically sensitive institutions are involved? Several investigation reports contain dozens of safety recommendations. What percentage of these recommendations have been implemented by operators and regulators? What happens when agencies simply ignore these safety recommendations after the investigation by the NSIB? The NSIB has repeatedly stated that its goal is not to apportion blame, but to prevent further accidents. How does this bureau ensure or measure whether its investigation reports are actually changing safety practices across Nigeria’s transport sector?

We’ve always been independent. More than anything, since I took over in 2023, I’ve not had any issues with the government interfering with my job or my role.  Now being placed under the presidency gives us even greater latitude, you know, where we’re not under one sector or sectoral ministry. So I think it even frees us further. Should there ever be any systemic failure or operational lapse that affects any agency or ministry, I can actually go directly to the president through the NSA, or even directly, you know, and just let him know what’s happening. And I believe, regardless of national interests, you know, I think the goal of any leader is the lives and well-being of his citizens. So I don’t anticipate seeing that, at least not during my tenure here, but we’ll see. But I think our autonomy is being preserved as it is right now where we are. I hope that answers the first one. Second question: safety recommendations. That has actually been a problem. We churn out safety recommendations- so many safety recommendations. And we’re, at least with the aviation, when we’re AIB and NSIB, we’re trying to work with them. We have found, or we had a working group for this- I forgot what it was called now- for these safety recommendations. I’ll be honest with you: I’m not satisfied because, yes, we often put these out, but we don’t really have the power to push them through and ensure they’re done, since that’s the regulator’s job. I don’t have the proper metrics for that, but I will get them across to you. Once we finish, I’ll look for it and have the director of public affairs reach out with that or the metrics for that. But as a solution to that, to me, not being satisfied, as part of our reorganisation here with this move to the presidency, I have proposed an office of safety recommendations to be part of the NSIB. Okay, so I’ll use aviation, the Ministry of Aviation, as my key point. Most of the accidents or incidents we’ve investigated haven’t reoccurred because of those same issues. But I think, you know, with what we’ve done in aviation, as we’re trying to replicate in the waterways, I believe over the next couple of years, you would see that the same issues we had, or we’ve been having in the past years, should reduce once we get that. Total buy-in or cooperation from the local communities and the regulators there. I hope that answers the question or your questions.

Are there any ways the airlines, or are there things the airlines do, that, you know, limit you from carrying out your investigations? And if there are, could you mention some of the things that they do, you think we should, that they need to correct? Do you think these things are done deliberately to hide things, you know, when incidents or accidents happen?

I don’t think airlines are doing anything deliberately, at least not to my knowledge. But one thing, of course, is the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder being overwritten. A lot of the time, that’s an issue that we face. I think that’s something we faced with the last one in Asaba, because, of course, they took off and flew back to Lagos and overwrote everything that happened when they landed in Asaba. Of course, that aeroplane is a 5-registered aeroplane operating under a Part 91 certificate, which is a not-for-profit, just for private operation, not for charter hire. They weren’t subject to the rule requiring a 26-hour cockpit voice recorder. As such, they had an old, solid-state one that only recorded for two hours of low quality. And between the incident and their departure for Lagos, they overwrote everything that had happened. So, yes, that made things a little difficult. But we still worked with other things to kind of figure out what happened. We’re still working on other parts or approaches to get the data for that. Of course, the FDR of that aeroplane did not work as well. So, I’m not sure what happened. I think it was part of the preliminary report. But I’m not going to blame the operator or the airline just yet. We’ll wait and see what the final report says on that, and all will be in there. So, to answer your question, I don’t think the airlines are going out of their way to destroy evidence. But they’re having LOIs from the NCAA. They’ve now put out two LOIs, to my knowledge, reminding them to preserve data. And we at the NSIB have also held a workshop for operators, encouraging them to preserve data. Hopefully, we can do another workshop, maybe next year or towards the end of the year, as funding allows. Or if we can get sponsors to co-sponsor these workshops for us.

There have not been so many issues with some of your reports. Your reports have been well researched and well written. But sometimes, maybe on a few occasions, airlines have had to, not query, but have reservations about maybe a line or two of your reports. I’ll give you an instance. I won’t mention the airline, but I think the report you did about some drunken pilots- the airline had to come out and deny that their pilots were never drunk. When these occur, they raise many questions about NSIB’s reports. Most of the time, airline owners go to the media to disparage your reporting. What is your take on this?

You are talking about the Air Peace incident report. Thank you for that. We never said the pilots were drunk. If you see the preliminary report, all they said was, you know, when they tested them, they tested positive for ETG, etil-gluconuride, which is a byproduct of alcohol, which could indicate recent alcohol consumption. How recent? We don’t know. Of course, there’s a problem with that, which is a Nigerian issue we’re trying to solve. I mean, typically, if I speak too much on this, I will be speaking towards the final report. It’s part of what we’re looking into, you know, when they should consume alcohol and how much alcohol. There’s a figure, at least for the NCAA, not for the FAA; they have a total figure within eight hours. It shouldn’t be, and when you test it, it shouldn’t exceed 0.04. Of course, we aim for 0.0. So, with Air Peace going into the media, they have a job, I mean, they have passengers. That’s their own prerogative. We don’t really- we’re not worried about the media or an airline disparaging our reports. We’re here to be apolitical and, you know, what’s the word I’m looking for now? Unbiased. So, as far as I’m concerned, we were unbiased because we drew blood. It was, you know, it was urine and blood. So, we never said they were drunk, and it was three. There was the other one that tested positive for THC, and we left it at that. It’s not our job at the Bureau to pursue sanctions or anything or come down hard. We left that for the NCAA to explore further. But yes, you are right. The airline did come out hard, accusing the Bureau of sabotage or something. I reminded them at the National Assembly that a couple of years prior, the same situation happened in Abuja with another airline where both passengers and pilots tested positive for THC. The airline did not come out and question that. So, you know, again, it just depends on the individual here. For me, I would always encourage people to just take the lesson, rather than fight us who are just trying to make the country safer. I mean, the airline question you’re saying, which is the Air Peace accused and said it’s because of their tribe or whatever. Well, they’re still flying in Nigeria today, and no one is going after them. So, it’s not the Bureau’s intent to bring down any airline. Why would we want to do that? I’m a pilot. I have pilot friends who work. An airline goes down. Arik Air went down, and if you recall, from 36 aeroplanes to two aeroplanes flying, and all over 200 pilots that Arik Air had all left the country. So, again, when those things happen, it’s not for us to go back in the media and go back and forth, but it’s not the NSIB’s intent to bring down any airline. We’ll just see the facts as we find them. But we will fix that. We’re going to remedy that while we work on getting breathalysers as well, and a proper test kit that’s ISO-something. They have two ISO certifications. So, we’re going to do all of this or most of the initial tests on the spot before we send everything to the labs.

Do you think that family assistance should become a mandatory requirement for every airline, railway and ferry operator? And lastly, for me, looking ahead, looking back at the first half of 2026, what achievement gives the Bureau the greatest confidence that transport safety is improving?

Family assistance, or support as you called it. Yeah, I do believe it should be across the board. But I must just say family support is not, for us, financial, because I’ve found that here in Nigeria, when you say family support, everyone is expecting some sort of financial assistance from the Bureau or the government. I mean, family assistance is immediate care, and it’s not really our place to give. We’re supposed to coordinate. So even though we have a department, you know, we’re trying to educate everybody, the operators and regulators, to know what it is, what family assistance really is. What happens immediately, what happens immediately, an accident happens, and even long-term care or palliative. I could use the American Airlines crash that happened last year in DC, where there was support, which was, you know, emotional and mental health support for these families for a whole year after the crash. You know, so, it’s things like that. You know, the financial aspect of it that would be for the airlines and the insurance companies to deal with. So, yes, I do believe it should be across the board.

On the staff strength and the organisation capacity to carry out its mandate, what is the capacity of the NSIB to carry out all these functions?

Wole Shadare