A committee to make the Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) a multimodal accident investigation body has been set up internally.
This is for the implementation of the new act which established the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
President Muhammadu Buhari had recently assented to the AIB-N Bill which was passed by the National Assembly to transform the Bureau from just Aircraft accidents investigation only to accommodates other modes of transportation.
General Manager, Public Affairs of the NSIB, Tunji Oketunbi disclosed this in a statement, quoting the Commissioner of the Bureau, Engr. Akin Olateru, explaining that the committee was set up following the assent of the new NSIB Act 2022 by President Muhammed Buhari and the Supreme Court Gazette, which was released on November 28, 2022.
“With this, the nomenclature of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in AIB-N has changed from Commissioner to Director-General, NSIB,” said the statement signed by Oketunbi.
With this development, NSIB would henceforth investigate serious accidents in air, marine, rail and other modes of transportation in Nigeria and anywhere the country’s interest is affected.
Olateru said, “The new Act will further enhance safety in all modes of transportation in the country as serious incidents and accidents would be investigated and recurrence prevented”.
The Commissioner who lauded the Federal Government for establishing the multimodal agency said Nigeria would be moving with a global trend in ensuring safety in all transportation modes.
He commended the National Assembly for passing the bill and the President for assenting to it as well as the commitment and leadership qualities of the. Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and the Federal Ministry of Aviation for ensuring the creation of the NSIB, which he said would open a new chapter in transportation safety in Nigeria.
Olateru inaugurated the committee for the implementation of the new act that establishes the NSIB, and praised the staff and management of AIB-N for their support and sacrifices to ensure that the bill saw the light of day.
“We did it together in the interest of the country. I salute your commitment, sacrifices and determination without which we would not have achieved this,” he added.
The expansion of AIB-N scope of operations into a multimodal agency was one of the cardinal programmes of Engr. Akin Olateru when he assumed office in 2017.
Olateru had pursued the establishment of the NSIB so that the Bureau could expand its mandate to cover not only the investigation of air mishaps but also that of other modes of transportation in accordance with global standard practices.
The commissioner, in 2020, at the public hearings of the Senate Committee on Aviation and the House Committee on Aviation for the passage of the NSIB bill, assured that, the NSIB would enable the Bureau to improve the safety standard of the country’s transportation network through quality investigation of accident and serious incident occurrences, timely publication of the reports and safety recommendations.
