Air Chief Urges Proactive Measures Against Air Crashes

Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, has called for proactive measures to prevent air crashes during military operations.

He said the actions or inactions of all Nigerian Air Force (NAF) personnel will help to either propel or break the accident chain sometimes experienced in NAF operations.

In a statement by the director of Public Relations and Information, the CAS, Air Vice Marshal Edward Gabkwet, called for the emplacement of appropriate actions to break the accident chain and enshrine a good safety culture that transcends all levels in the NAF.

He made the call at the 2024 NAF Safety Review Board (SRB) meeting held at NAF Headquarters, Abuja.

“As members of the Safety Review Board, it is vital that we thoroughly examine all the safety issues arising from this meeting and come up with objective and innovative ideas that would enhance safety in the NAF. While we all know that safety is a collective responsibility, this Board is primarily accountable for safety administration in the NAF,” he said.

He said accidents result from a sequence of events, beginning with deliberate decisions taken, adding that the NAF cannot afford to pay lip service to issues relating to safety.

Air Marshal Abubakar stated that the NAF regards safety as one of its core functions and is committed to developing, implementing, and reviewing policies to ensure that all activities are conducted in a safe and conducive environment.

The CAS also stated that the NAF’s future will be more exciting and promising, given the government’s commitment to equipping it with modern platforms.

Earlier, the chief of Standards and Evaluation, Air Vice Marshal Micheal Onyebashi, revealed that the SRB is the apex body of the NAF Safety Management Structure, designed as a biannual meeting that deliberates on major policy, resource allocation and regulatory issues relating to safety.

He added that the Board is required to provide direction and guidelines to ensure the entrenchment of a healthy safety culture in the NAF.

Onyebashi stated that the NAF has since commenced the introduction of safety education at all NAF entry points and training institutions as directed in the last SRB, as well as leveraging the online learning infrastructure at the Air Warfare Centre, Abuja, to sustain an appreciable level of safety education across the NAF.

He noted that with the reactivation of NAF platforms and the induction of additional platforms, the SRB, commands, and units must work assiduously to ensure that safety standards are maintained in all NAF activities.

He reminded the board of its responsibility to propose strategies and ideas that would enable the NAF to continuously improve safety in all its operations.

In his paper at the meeting titled, ‘Senior Managers’ Role in Organizational Safety Management System’, Dr Iteke Ifeanyichukwu Chukwunonso of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority stated that managing safety entails managing risks and reactively, proactively and predictively controlling risks to an acceptable level.

He added that safety management should take a business-like approach and be woven into an organisation’s fabric until it becomes a part of its culture.

While commending the NAF for its exceptional safety standards, he called on its leadership to continue to retain the responsibility and accountability for safety.

Engr Chukwunonso also emphasised the need for NAF leadership to promote open reporting through non-punitive disciplinary policies while encouraging incentives for promoting safety. In closing, Engr Chukwunonso noted that senior management remains the core of safety management in any organisation.