By Okuneye Moyosola
In a bid to have a more result-driven aviation industry, the Ministries, Departments and Agencies have been urged to shun the practice of looking for culprit when an accident occurs.
This position was harped at the Quarterly Breakfast Meeting of the Aviation Round Table (ART) which held at Golf view hotel in Lagos, last week with the theme “Advantages of Implementing AIB Recommendations”.
The former Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Engineer Fidelis Onyeyiri while speaking at the event shunned those who are quick to apportion blames when an accident occurs without waiting for reports from the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).
“If you go to annex 13 of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), it tells you that investigation is principal to accident prevention so that what has happened would not repeat itself. The value of incident report is proportional to the quality of the investigative effort. So as a result, what comes out becomes the paramount importance”
“We have to break out of the circuit of looking for a victim. We always go towards that. Once there is an accident, the first thing we look out for is who is responsible or who is the culprit and effort is directed towards the culprit rather than resolving the casual value of the accident”.
Also speaking at the conference, the Director General of NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman represented by Mr. Ifeanyi Okike, National Coordinator, State Safety Programme, NCAA stressed that NCAA and AIB are working together to ensure the safety of airspace
“We are really coordinating with AIB. AIB and NCAA are the two authorities responsible for the safety program in Nigeria. We are working towards the same goal and that goal is safe operations of aircrafts and safe Nigerian airspace”
Former Director-General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren also called for effective communication between the two agencies while urging them to work together in ensuring the safety of the sector.
“We should have effective communication between the regulator and the investigator in order to promote safety and prevent accidents” he said.
