BY ANTHONY AWUNOR, Lagos
Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N), has released three final reports and two safety bulletins to the general public.
With the release of three additional reports on Thursday, AIB-N has so far released a total of 59 final reports since its establishment in 2007 while a total of 40 final reports out of these were under the current administration of the Bureau.
The released reports by AIB-N include that of serious Incident involving a Gulfstream G-IV aircraft owned and operated by Skybird Air Ltd with nationality and registration marks 5N-BOD, which occurred at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on 12th September, 2018; report on the Serious Incident involving a Boeing 747-200 aircraft owned and operated by Kabo Air Ltd with nationality and registration marks 5N-JRM which occurred at Sultan Abubakar Airport, Sokoto (DNSO), Sokoto State on 4th October, 2013 and report on the Serious Incident involving a B737-500 aircraft owned and operated by Aero Contractors Company of Nigeria Ltd with nationality and registration marks 5N-BLG, which occurred on Runway 18R, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos on 9th April, 2016;
The agency also released Bulletin- Report on the Incident involving a Tampico Club TB-9 aircraft owned and operated by Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) with nationality and registration marks 5N-CBG which occurred at Zaria Aerodrome, Kaduna State on 10th December, 2013 and another Bulletin- Report on the Incident involving a Tampico Club TB-9 aircraft owned and operated by Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) with nationality and registration marks 5N-CBB, which occurred at Zaria Aerodrome, Kaduna State on 18th June, 2014;
Inclusive in the final reports released by AIB-N were 16 Safety Recommendations, which are very important towards preventing recurrence of such serious incidents when the safety recommendations are adhered to.
These 16 safety recommendations make a total of 211 Safety Recommendations released since the inception of AIB and a total of 127 Safety Recommendations released under the current administration.
Speaking at a media parley to announce the release of reports and bulletin at their corporate headquarters in Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Commissioner/CEO of AIB-N, Engr Akin Olateru advised stakeholders to ensure that they avail themselves of the AIB-N reports, draw useful lessons from them and implement the safety recommendations where applicable.
According to Olateru, if they fail to do these, all the time and resources invested into the investigation of serious incidents and accidents by AIB-N would have been wasted.
“Safety recommendations are critical to the Bureau’s basic role of accident prevention since it is the lever used to bring about safety changes to, and improvements in the nations aviation system. It is therefore expected that the stakeholders would take the AIB-N safety recommendations very seriously and complement AIB-N’s efforts by implementing the recommendations, where applicable, to prevent future recurrence of similar events”, Olateru advised.
Engr Olateru equally appreciated the Honourable Minister for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika and other agencies for their continuous support of our activities at AIB-N.
He emphasised that an enhanced positive working relationship during the course of achieving its mandate is what AIB is seeking from its collaborations with other organisations and agencies.
The Commissioner said, “We have successfully signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with several organisations and agencies and we are still actively seeking collaborations and cooperation agreements with other agencies as a way of improving our operations, delivering our mandate and ensuring the continued safety of the Nigerian airspace.
AIB-N would not relent in its efforts of seeking new innovative ways that would ensure the continuous safety of the Nigeria airspace and Africa.
