The general director of Nigerian Security Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Akin Olateru, has described Nigeria’s aviation safety record as the best in Africa after the country recorded only two fatal accidents in the industry in the last decade.
According to a statement issued on Friday by James Odaudu, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the office, Mr. Olateru commented on the country’s aviation safety records while speaking on the issue: “Nigeria evolves approach towards aviation security and learn from incident investigation – The NSIB Experience”, at the seventh edition of the Africa Aviation Summit held in Abuja.
“In the last 10 years, there have been two fatal civil accidents resulting in the unfortunate loss of nine souls in Nigeria,” the official said.
Incidents
Olateru said between 2005 and 2023, there were 78 accidents and serious incidents in the country and four incidents in the Safety Bulletin totaled 82.
He said his agency issued 260 safety recommendations during the period with 12 incidents in the Safety Bulletin for a total of 272 safety recommendations.
The official said the security recommendations and their appreciable implementation and compliance were largely responsible for the security successes recorded since the inception of the current NSIB administration.
Explaining the changes and responsibilities over the years, Mr Olateru said: “There were 154 accidents, 46 of which were fatal between 1948 and 2005, with a total of 1,445 passenger fatalities.”
Initially, he said that the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) of the Ministry of Aviation was responsible for the investigation of aviation occurrences as well as airworthiness certification, and that this created a peculiar challenge for the regulator who was also the investigator. .
“How could the Regulator be expected to objectively investigate and be held accountable in cases where the contributing causes of events were attributed to a poor or non-existent oversight and regulatory enforcement function on its part?” he asked.
“It became increasingly clear that we needed to realign our aviation safety and accident investigation standards and bring them into line with relevant ICAO annexes and international best practices.”
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According to the statement, the NSIB boss said his agency now embodies the evolving approach to aviation safety and learning from incident investigation that has led to safer skies in Nigeria.
He listed the evolving approach to include separation of investigative from regulatory functions, granting investigative autonomy and independence to the Investigator (NSIB) and placing emphasis on early publication of Accident Reports.
Other measures include synergy between the regulator (NCAA) and the investigator (NSIB) in monitoring and complying with safety recommendations; a memorandum of understanding for collaboration with neighboring countries to assist with investigations; and the exchange of facilities and information.
The NSIB boss also identified the development of a mechanism for early notification of occurrences and the development of identified technical skills among NSIB personnel among various initiatives as part of the evolving approaches to accident investigation in Nigeria.