Director General of Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Mr. Akin Olateru, has said that the bureau is capable of putting Nigeria at the top in Africa in accident investigations.
Olateru stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said that the law that established NSIB had placed the capacity of the bureau above some of its counterparts in Africa.
“This will put Nigeria at the top in Africa as regards transportation accident investigations, with the country becoming the first to have such a bureau in the continent.
“It has enabled us to investigate maritime and railway transportation, in addition to aircraft accident investigations.
“NSIB has also been positioned to reinforce safety in all the modes of transportation in Nigeria.
“This is through distinctive, efficient and effective investigations of accidents and serious incidents involving any means of transportation within the country or anywhere Nigeria’s interest is affected,” he said.
The director-general said that the bureau had published a total of 75 reports and issued 252 safety recommendations since its inception in 2007.
According to him, 75 per cent of all the bureau’s final reports and 68 per cent of safety recommendations since 2007 were released in the last five years.
Olateru said that the bureau, operating under the Federal Ministry of Aviation, had offices at Abuja, Kano and Enugu airports.
“NSIB is an autonomous aviation bureau established under the Civil Aviation Act, 2006, with the responsibilities of investigating civil aircraft accidents and other serious incidents within Nigeria.
“The fundamental objective of the bureau is to improve aviation safety by determining the circumstances and causes of air accidents as well as proffering solutions and engaging in activities that promote aviation safety in the country.
“The bureau’s core functions are to investigate air accidents and other serious incidents that occur within the Nigerian air space and anywhere the country’s interests are affected. It also makes safety recommendations.
“Also, it gathers and analyses air safety data for accident and incident prevention purposes.
“The bureau equally monitors implementations of safety recommendations by carrying out accident prevention monitoring programmes, in accordance with Section 29 of Civil Aviation Act, 2006,” he said.
