Akin Olateru is the commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of Air Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N). In this interview with IFEOMA OKEKE, he speaks on how COVID-19 has affected AIB-N and how far the agency has gone in investigating the recent helicopter crash in Lagos.
What is your assessment of the global aviation industry in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic?
Covid-19 is not new to anybody; even kids on the streets know what it’s all about. The pandemic has affected the aviation industry worldwide. We are one of the industries that this Covid-19 has affected a lot in terms of revenue loss.
It’s a very expensive virus and it has crippled a lot of activities, a lot of families are out of jobs. I think Nigeria has done its best to curtail it. I give a lot of credit to the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19. They have been able to manage it very well. We just don’t have experience in this. It took us like a plague. So far, I am impressed with the way we have been handling it. I am impressed; we will make adjustments as we go along in terms of relaxation and all of that. It depends on scientific evidence available to the team. I believe the phase will pass; things will be back to normal, but when? It is the scientists that will come out with vaccines that will help to mitigate this risk. I believe it’s a matter of time, things will fizzle out and things will return to normal.
How is your organisation addressing the challenges brought about by Covid-19 pandemic?
In terms of performance, we refused to let the pandemic affect us. We are still doing what we would do normally, Covid-19 or not. We still ensure we deliver on our mandate, we ensure we do what we have to do, but the only problem we have is funding. Covid-19 has affected our revenues greatly.
You know our source of revenue is from the three percent we get out of the five percent we collect from the Ticket Sales Charge/Cargo Sales Charge (TSC/CSC). So, in terms of affecting us, it’s more or less funding. But, in terms of doing delivery on our mandate, we made sure it hasn’t affected us in any way.
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Sir, how far have you gone with your plans to expand the scope of your incident and accident investigation to other modes of transportation in the country?
You will agree with me that it will start once the bill is approved by the National Assembly and the President. Currently, we are set out to investigate air accidents and there is a proposed bill in the National Assembly. At the House of Representatives, it has passed the second reading; we are waiting for a public hearing on the new AIB bill. At the Senate, we are waiting for a second reading and public hearing. Thereafter, it will be transmitted to the President for assent.
For us, when you look at what we’ve done in air transport, we have been able to mitigate so many risks; we have managed to learn from our lessons in serious incidents. You look at aviation, it is a highly regulated industry, very expensive, highly technical, the fastest and the safest means of transportation and it is because of all these checks and balances that have made it so. There is a difference between investigating for liability, criminality and safety. AIB has been investigating for safety, not for liability and it is the same we want to take to other modes of transportation. It is not about who is at fault, it is about how we can prevent future occurrence. This is our core mandate and this is what we want to focus on. That is where we are and it’s going to take effect as soon as we have the greenlight from the president.
Just as you know, accident investigation is a very complex assignment, what challenges do you face in the cause of discharging your duties?
When you look at it, challenges could come in any organisations in four major areas; equipment, infrastructure, human capital and systems processes and procedures. I always say that if you score less than seven out of 10 in any of these four areas, you still don’t have a company. If you have the best equipment and you don’t have manpower, you are not going anywhere. And if you have the best manpower, equipment, but you don’t have a good infrastructure and there are no systems and procedures to help them navigate their workings, you are not going anywhere.
So, those four areas, I will say we had a huge challenge in them when I came in. Of course, the pillar of all the four is funding, but with the support of the Aviation Minister and the National Assembly, we have been able to navigate throughout that.
Sir, since your assumption of office over three years ago, how much have you expended on training of your personnel and accident investigations?
There are no two accidents that are the same; they may look the same, but there are no two accidents that are the same. Also, in terms of costing, I don’t think I have been able to break it down to an exact figure. So, I will not be able to give you the exact figure, but I can describe the process for you.
The type of accident will determine the cost. Sometimes, we have to send an engine back to the manufacturer, they call it engine teardown. So, we have to factor in the cost of shipping. What we want to ascertain is the engine producing power as at the time of the crash.
So, there are several things that can push up the cost in accident investigation. It is a painstaking process, very detailed exercise, tasking and sometimes, it can be daunting because you must get it right. This is what accident investigation is all about. You must ensure whatever fact you put out there, you have enough evidence to back it up and this is why we go through so many different processes, depending on the crash. We get support from engine manufacturers, airframe manufacturers, and from some countries because it can be very complex sometimes.
You trained about 10 investigators on the use of drones recently, were you able to deploy it to the crash site of the Quorum Aviation helicopter crash?
No, we didn’t. AIB is a responsible agent of government. We can’t flout any government rules and regulations. To operate a drone, you need a license and we are yet to sort that out with the NCAA.
In getting the license, part of the requirements is to train your people on how to handle the drones, which we have satisfied. The operator has to be licensed by NCAA. So, we are in the process of normalising our documentations. You will agree with me that any company or agency of government must constantly review its processes to enhance service delivery. That is one thing we do here, we see how we do it and how we can make betterment or simplify the processes or get a better result for better performance.
Did this hinder your job in getting materials from the crash?
The non-deployment of drones didn’t affect our level of material gathering. The fact is drones are extremely essential when you have a wider area of crash, when you have a crash spanning about half a mile or a mile for instance. It takes time to walk through that to gather information or evidence, but for this one, we were fortunate the crash site was a bit contained. It was not over a large expanse of land. So, that is why we didn’t really miss it, but we hope to fast-track our application with the NCAA.
But, on that day, LASEMA used their drones to take some pictures, but for us in AIB, we did very well. We have gathered the right information. Deployment of drones will happen once we have necessary permit and licensing from the NCAA.
Apart from the flight safety and material science laboratories you already have, which other projects are the management thinking of embarking upon?
Currently, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved construction of AIB headquarters and AIB training school in Abuja. These projects have started; we have two laboratories – flight safety and material science. For the material science laboratory, it’s a work in progress because we want to transform the material science lab to an avenue where we can make money. We cannot charge for what we do. We don’t charge for accident investigation; we don’t invoice anybody. We can look for little areas where we can use our resources to make money. That is the way we are going so that we can be able to address the issue of funding.
