Bureau Releases Air Accident Reports

The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), on Thursday, released seven final reports on air accidents between 2014 to 2020 to operators and public.

According to the director general of the bureau, Engr. Akin Olateru, during a virtual press conference on the release of seven accident reports monitored by NATIONAL ECONOMY, he said, the released reports were of serious incident involving Bristow Helicopters Nigeria Ltd, Embraer 135 Aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BSN which occurred at Port Harcourt military Airport (NAF BASE), Port Harcourt, on the 9th March,2020; the serious incident involving ATR-72 Aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N- BPG owned and operated by Overland Airways limited, which occurred at Ilorin International Airport, Nigeria on 29th November 2014 and the serious incident involving Boeing 737-300 Aircraft belonging to Air Peace Limited with nationality and registration Marks 5N-BUO which occurred at FL310 enroute Enugu from Lagos on 14th December, 2018.

Others are: the serious incident involving British Aerospace BAE 125-800B Aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BOO operated by Gyro Aviation limited, which occurred at Port Harcourt, Nigeria on 16th July 2020; the serious incident involving British Aerospace BAE 125-800B aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-BOO operated by Gyro Aviation limited, which occurred at Osubi airstrip, Warri, Nigeria on 10th September 2020; the serious incident involving a Dornier 328-100 aircraft with nationality and registration marks 5N-DOX, operated by Dornier Aviation Nigeria AIEP (DANA) Limited, which occurred at Port Harcourt military Airport on 23rd January 2019.

Similarly, the serious incident involving Airbus 330-243 aircraft operated by middle East Airlines with nationality and registration marks OD-MEA and a parked Boeing 777 aircraft operated by Turkish Airlines with nationality and registration marks TC-LJC which occurred at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on 29th July, 2020 were part of the reports released.

Speaking while releasing the reports, the DG disclosed that the bureau will now get 6 percent from Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) collected on behalf of other aviation agencies by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

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According to him, the Act establishing the NSIB increased the bureau’s revenue from 3 percent to six percent adding that it will get 5 percent from Passenger Service Charge (PSC) being collected by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

He also disclosed that the Bureau will get certain percent of charges from all terminal operators and ticket sales in Nigeria, including the Maritime sector.

“A lot of work went into the drafting of the bill before it was accented to. According to the Act, the NSIB gets six percent of TSC and five per cent of PSC from FAAN, there is a percentage from railway tickets, we find a way to balance it as the proposals are approved in the Act. You all know we do not charge for investigation and so we are a fully funded Bureau,’’ he said.

Speaking on the expertise and training of staff with the new name and scope of work, Olateru said the Bureau plans to recruit more technocrats.

He said out of the 45 investigators, three quarter of them have been trained abroad in Multi-modal accident investigation, ‘we have 220 staff right now, for expertise, we need expertise in the maritime sector.’

Olateru disclosed further that the Bureau achieved 82 per cent of implementation of safety records so far adding that it works with stakeholders in the implementation of the recommendations.

”We achieved 82 per cent and that is not different from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) can achieve, we collaborate with stakeholders on the implementation,” he added.