Air Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) has said it needs to partner various stakeholders in construction, maritime, air transport, the fire departments and other organizations to improve the investigative body’s chances of getting to the root of any accident that occurs in difficult terrain.
Akin Olateru, commissioner and Chief Executive of the AIB-N, made this known at League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) gateway forum where he stated that partnerships are formed to ensure separate units mesh together and form a well-oiled-unit that would get the job done no matter where.
Olateru explained that not having the required partnerships frustrated the job and investigation reports need to be timely for things to be learnt from them.
He said the AIB-N does not have aircraft and so when an aircraft crashes in difficult terrain, they would need the Nigeria Air force.
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He said, “It is very serious and some agencies of the government do not understand why we need all these collaborations, they don’t understand why we are pushing for this cooperation. I’d give you an instance: God forbid an aircraft crash into the sea, AIB, I don’t have the capacity for sea divers to retrieve any wreckage or to retrieve my ‘black box’ but Nigerian Navy does.
“Since 2017, I have been pursuing the Nigeria Navy to sign an MOU. It is not the day we have an accident that we start looking for whom to call, this is the essence of all these MOUs. Recently, we just signed with the Nigerian Air Force and one of the benefits of that is, aircraft which drops from the sky in a bad or difficult terrain that we cannot access, the Air Force can help us with the logistics.
“We too can be of help to the Air Force because we have a world-class safety lab in Abuja and so rather than the Air Force sending their ‘black box’ overseas, they can use our lab and save Nigeria some cost. At the end of the day, it is to the benefit of the entire nation.
He further explained, “National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), we have been at this MoU since 2017, we are still talking and that’s what I mean by sometimes it can be frustrating. AIB is not Akin Olateru’s own; it’s a Federal Government agency.
