Accident reports not attack on institutions, says AIB-N

BY Sade Williams/Business a.m.

The Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N) has said that its reports are not issued to attack any organisation, agency or individual.

AIB Nigeria, in a statement signed by Tunji Oketunbi, its public affairs manager, noted that a section of the media had misinterpreted a portion of one of the reports released recently, portraying it as an attack on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

But the AIB-N said it only acted according to international regulations.

“The Bureau had expressed in one of its reports recently published that it issued an immediate Safety Recommendation in the Preliminary Report on the serious incident involving Azman Air Boeing 737-500 of January 3, 2019, which was not actioned by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

“This appeared to have been misinterpreted in some media reports, thereby giving an impression that the report was an attack on the regulatory body. It should be noted that while it is the statutory responsibility of the AIB-N to investigate and make safety recommendations, the Civil Aviation Authority is by law not bound to implement any or all the recommendations where it deems it either unnecessary, time barred or impracticable to do so.

“The portion of the report that stated that ‘No action from NCAA’ was therefore not an attack on the regulatory agency but a standard practice in line with ICAO Annex 13. It is the norm for accident investigation agencies globally to put it in the final reports if the CAA agreed, disagreed or did not implement safety recommendations,” it stated.

The Bureau said it has a good working relationship with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the two agencies are both pursuing the same goal of ensuring a robust aviation safety regime in the country.

“This synergy has contributed to the commendable record the country has recorded so far in air safety,” it added.