Why we have Zero accidents in four years, by AIB

**62.7% final reports in four years represent total since agency’s creation

The desire to keep the aviation industry safe by the Federal Government may have led to zero accident in the last four years according to the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).

The successes were as a result of reforms in the accident investigative body and other relevant aviation agencies.

Speaking with Woleshadarenews in Lagos at the weekend, spokesman for AIB, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi while elaborating on many of the accident reports that have been released by the agency said the aviation accident investigative body’s role is to prevent accidents and serious incidents that may occur within the country’s airspace with a view to making safety recommendations that can prevent future recurrence of similar event or similar occurrences.

Oketunbi stated that when they do so, stakeholders implement the safety recommendations and the chance of having accidents or serious incidents are greatly reduced.

He explained that since the inception of the current administration in AIB, they have been able to keep to their promise of releasing reports on time.

READ ALSO:  Nigerians with expired visa in UAE given August 17 to leave amid tough immigration policy

“We have released between 2017 and now, we have released 31 final reports. That is separate from preliminary reports, interim reports and all of that. Recently, we released four final reports and these four final reports has nine safety recommendations”.

“Those safety recommendations are geared towards improving air safety; that is, when you implement those safety recommendations, then, we are not likely to have similar occurrences. That led to these four final reports, making a total of 51 final reports and 187 safety recommendations since the inception of AIB.”

 

AIB Commissioner/CEO, Akin Olateru

“This makes 62.7 per cent of AIB’s total of 51 final reports released since inception of AIB since 2007. From inception of AIB in 2007, we have released 51 final reports of accident investigation that we have conducted and between 2017 when this current administration of AIB came onboard and now, we have released 31 accident reports. When you look at it, that gives us 62.7 per cent of all the reports since the inception of AIB”, he added.

READ ALSO:  Overland Airways Begins Asaba-Abuja flights

Commissioner, AIB, Akin Olateru, an aircraft engineer had since turned around the relatively unknown agency since his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in January 2017.

The agency was established in 2006 and has become a reference point for accident investigative body in Africa.

He had said that for them at AIB, safety was very crucial, with their investigations geared towards ensuring safer airspace in Nigeria and in the region.

He noted that the reports were the strong foundation on which safety of the aviation industry is built and timely release of these reports is as critical as accident investigation itself.

“The purpose of accident investigation, however, is not to apportion blame or liability, but to prevent future recurrence of similar incidents. Since the inception of this administration at AIB, we have been able to keep to our promise of ensuring timely release of accident and serious incident reports.

READ ALSO:  Reps recommend access denial to airport safety violators

“Safety recommendations in accident reports have impacted air safety positively not only in Nigeria, but globally. They are very important towards preventing recurrence of such accidents or serious incidents when safety recommendations are adhered to.”

Apart from the four serious incidents and accidents released last week in Abuja, Olateru promised that at least, six final reports of accidents, which happened at different times in the industry, would be released to the public, but said it would first go through inputs from the stakeholders in the sector.

Besides, Olateru threatened that henceforth any airline operator found wanting in tampering with incident or accident evidence would be prosecuted in the court of law.

Olateru regretted that some airlines are in the habit of tampering with Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) immediately after a major incident or accident.

Wole Shadare