Chinelo Obogo
 
 
ACCIDENT Investigation Bureau (AIB) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have set up a committee that would review safety recommendations issued on accidents, serious incidents and continuous operation of the State Safety Programmes (SSP) and ensure that the recommendations are implemented.
 
Both agencies jointly inaugurated an 11-man committee in Abuja on Wednesday which will among other things provide clarity on what constitutes a serious incident as what currently entails in the ICAO Annex 13 is not all inclusive and is open to subjective interpretation and application.
 
A statement by the General Manager, Public Affairs, AIB, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, says that the committee would also consider any other areas of cooperation that would improve safety of aircraft operations in Nigeria.
 
He said that the committee would also coordinate activities with regards to aviation occurrences, respect for the mandate and responsibilities of each organisation, effective and efficient exchange of information and data amongst others.
 
Both government agencies nominated five representatives each to the committee, while one representative was nominated by the Federal Ministry of Aviation.
 
“These 11 Joint Committee members will collaborate in the review of NCAA’s responses to safety recommendations issued by AIB on accidents and serious incidents.
 
“The committee will see to the implementation and continuous operation of the State Safety Programmes in Nigeria and any other areas of cooperation that will enhance safety of aircraft operations in Nigeria.”
 
He emphasised that NCAA was in charge of regulating the industry, while AIB focused on investigating serious incidents and accidents to promote safety of the sector.
 
Also speaking, Capt. Musa Nuhu, Director-General, NCAA said the primary objective of establishing the committee is to ensure the enhancement of thorough coordination, collaboration and cooperation processes and public safety in aviation industry.
 
Nuhu pointed out that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs) Part 20 on Safety Management required that both authorities have access to appropriate information in the incident reporting system Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR) and the Non-Punitive Reporting System to support the safety responsibilities.
 
“Pursuant to the above, both authorities are striving towards establishing compatible software to enable the sharing of safety data and this also is part of the mandate of this committee.
 
“It is also important that this committee continuously reviews the requirements of the Nig. CARs and the implementation of responsibilities it assigns to the Civil Aviation Regulations (Investigations of Air Accidents and Serious Incidents),” he said.
 
According to him, another area of cooperation to emphasize on is the clarity on what constitutes a serious incident.
 
The Director-General said the attachment C of Annex 13 gives guidance that was not all inclusive, which could be open to subjective interpretation and application.
 
“The committee will have to determine the detailed modality and methodology of implementation to ensure that there will be no compromise.
 
“This is necessary, as we are supposed to have a global perspective to the final reports being issued by the bureau, as they do not constitute AIB reports per say, but Nigerian report and are ultimately available in the public space,” he said.