By Chinelo Obogo
The National Assembly (NASS) Joint Committee on Aviation has emphasised the need for adequate funding of the sector to enable it cope with the increasing demands for air travel.
The chairmen of the committees of Senate and House of Representatives, Abiodun Olujimi and Nnolim Nnaji, made the observation during an oversight working visit to the Accident Investigation Buteau, (AIB) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Both chairmen specifically pledged to look into the alleged exclusion of NAMA in the 2023 budget to see what could be done to redress it.
The acting Managing Director of NAMA, Mathew Pwajok, had in his welcome remarks appreciated the committees for their interest and concerns on matters affecting the aviation industry. He acknowledged the swift passage of the six executive bills on the industry as a true reflection of their commitment to the progress of the air transport sector in the country.
At the AIB headquaters, the members of the joint committees were impressed with the progress made in the upgrade of facilities and manpower at the bureau which has led to the reduction of accidents in the country to the barest minimum.
Nnaji said that members are impressed that for the past seven years, the country has not recorded any fatalities apart from the helicopter accident which occurred at Opebi in Lagos early 2022.
While encouraging the Bureau to do more work to ensure continuous safety which will change the dynamics of investigation from investigating more of serious incidents to investigating incidents, Nnaji assured the Bureau that the committees would look into how they can think out of the box to support the agency and increase its budget.
Appreciating the NASS joint committee for their support, Olateru disclosed that the Bureau under his administration has moved from investigating more accidents to investigating more of serious accidents.
He added that the projects which include the Bureau’s training school, which is the first of its kind in Africa, is 95 percent completed while the metallurgical laboratory, which was relocated to the Bureau’s office complex is about 80 percent completed.
Olateru also disclosed that the Bureau is constructing a new head office at the complex and has procured mobile satellite office, which can be used at crash sites by the Air Safety Investigators.
The Commissioner who stated that the Bureau is unable to charge money for investigation, unveiled plans to reevaluate AIB’s operations in order to generate revenue from other sources.
“I want to separate the business of making money from the technical side of accident investigation. For instance, since accidents do not occur regularly and we have the mobile office unused during the intervals, when there are no accidents, we are in talk with the United Nations (UN) on how they can use the mobile office unit when they go to the interior parts of the country, thereby generating income for AIB,” he said.