Why Nigeria has the best air safety records — AIB Commissioner

Records have shown that Nigeria has the best safety records in the world in terms of crashes so far experienced across the world.

Stating this fact was the Commissioner of Accident Investigation in Nigeria (AIB-n), MrAkin Olateru while speaking at a conference held in Lagos.

This came just as the AIB Commissioner has hinted of plans to commission the first Accident Investigation Training School in Africa before the end of 2022 which would be located in Abuja.

Olateru who attributed the safety regards to the efficiency of AIB and that of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the country’s aviation regulatory body, declared” In the last six years, we have only lost three persons unfortunately to a helicopter crash at Opebi but I don’t know how many countries in the world that can boast of such a record.

“How did that happen? It is not by luck or accident. It is because the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is doing their job and the Accident Investigation Bureau doing their job, investigating incidents and issuing the right safety recommendations to prevent recurrence and at the end of the day, it is about everyone doing what they are supposed to do.”

The stable safety record he daddy was based on the regular implementations of most of the safety recommendations the bureau often come up with after releasing reports on incidents and accidents after investigations conducted by trained officials of the bureau.

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“Those issued to the aircraft manufacturer have been implemented, some to the regulator and some to the airport and some to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and some to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMeT) and we have a system in place where we follow up and we have worked with the NCAA where we monitor those safety recommendations. There are still some serious incidents that we are investigating and about three will be released in the coming weeks.”

Speaking on the ongoing challenges confronting the domestic airlines in particular with reference to the lack of forex, exorbitant price of aviation fuel and their seemingly impact on safe operations, the AIB Commissioner said there was no cause for alarm as the NCAA, the government agency responsible for ensuring safety was fully alert.

According to Olateru “All the airlines in Nigeria are safe and if there is any infraction, which is the job of the NCAA to do. I know that there are challenges right now like the challenges of aviation fuel, foreign exchange and others is something that the government is doing something about. The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and the minister met recently to discuss the way forward and it is something that the government is doing something about. I believe that with time, those challenges will be gone.

Reacting to the controversy over the decision by the government to wet lease three aircraft for the take-off of the new national carrier, Nigerian Air, Olateru who said the arrangement was going to be on temporary basis with subsequent employment of many Nigerians soonest, further explained “This is aviation. The more aircraft and the more jobs are created because you would need the ground handling companies to manage it. I am also sure that some of the cabin crew members would be Nigerians. Moreover, this is a temporary arrangement, it is not going to be permanent.”