The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) is faced with cooperation challenges from the agencies of other modes of transportation, apart from those in the aviation industry. In this report, OLUSEGUN KOIKI chronicles the achievements of the bureau in the last one year and how the teething challenges can be resolved.
The transportation system globally is constantly evolving; yet, accidents do occur.
The causes of accidents on roads, rails, maritime, or air are often complex and multifactorial.
The main causes of accidents are human error and technical failures.
The aim of investigation bureaus worldwide, like the United States’ National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) of Singapore and the Department for Transport (DfT) of the United Kingdom is to identify and prevent these safety failures and foil them from causing more serious accidents in every mode of transportation.
But, to do this, a systematic approach is required to identify the root causes of accidents and develop preventive measures. To understand the causes of accidents, a comprehensive analysis of how accidents occur and the understanding and application of accident causation models are required.
In Nigeria, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), through the establishment Act 2022, empowers the bureau to conduct investigations into multimodal transportation accidents and serious incidents in the air, maritime, road and rail and issue safety recommendations to prevent recurrence.
The importance of NSIB to enhanced safe multimodal transportation cannot be overemphasized.
Its contributions to boosting safety in the air for Nigeria are glaring and have received commendation from the global aviation industry over the years.
Its performance since moving from the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to NSIB in 2022 when its scope was expanded to other modes of transportation is noticeable.
It was obvious, the new bureau needed a young person with renewed energy and vigour to shepherd its activities and ensure it delivers on its new mandate.
The appointment of Capt. Alex Badeh Jr. as the new Director-General of NSIB from the cockpit to the officious bureaucratic environment is seen as a step in the right direction in properly positioning the bureau to deliver on its dictate, even though with expected teething challenges at the start.
Some of Badeh’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on assumption of office were training, retraining, and boosting the On-the-Job Training (OJT) of the bureau’s personnel, including the mandatory training for its accident investigators.
The agency had trained some of its safety investigators on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and immediately deployed the machine to investigate accidents and serious incidents in recent times.
The all-encompassing training, both local and international, transcends the scope of aviation, covering other modes of transportation.
At present, NSIB can boast of having more qualified safety investigators in the West and Central African countries with its hundreds of total personnel.
The training makes it easy for NSIB to adapt to the latest trends and technologies in accident investigation, while accordingly, its facilities and reports are highly rated in the global aviation industry.
Today, its investigators now deploy drones, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital mapping to conduct accident investigations for precise results, using its state-of-the-art investigator review room situated in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to conduct faultless investigations.
For instance, the NSIB deployed an underwater drone to search for the wreckage of East Winds Aviation’s Sikorsky SK76 helicopter, which crashed on Thursday, October 24, 2024 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State leaving eight persons dead.
The exploration of this equipment by NSIB undoubtedly hastened the investigation of the accident, boosted accuracy and ensured the quick release of its preliminary report in record time by the bureau.
In 2024 alone, despite the paucity of funds at its disposal and the laggard cooperation of other modes of transportation to its cause, NSIB made public 16 final and preliminary reports with about 100 safety recommendations to various organisations, agencies and other concerned bodies, covering aviation and maritime, including the Anambra boat accident of April 10, 2024 in which 12 actors and Mr. Paul Odonwodo, popularly known as Junior Pope were involved.
These 16 reports were a huge number, considering that some of them had been on the shelf for between three and four years, predating the assumption of office of Badeh Jr.
In a recent interview with the Daily Independent, Badeh Jr. said acceptance of the new role came with its initial challenges, coupled with inadequate funds to execute most of his plans.
He said: “I was used to being in the flight deck with a crew of two or seven; now I’m dealing with 330 employees with different backgrounds, different wants, and different needs. So, there was that challenge.
“Of course, funding was and still is a challenge in NSIB, but we have been able to cajole here and there; we just need a little more funding to make us a bit more stable. Of course, stability is not just what you want, you want to stay in a comfortable state over the next year. You know we are multimodal now.
“The same way we have done in aviation, we want to contribute our capacity and expertise in maritime, road, rail and other modes of transportation in Nigeria. So that is our focus this year.”
Besides, Badeh Jr. said that the NSIB was at the moment, working on an investigative procedure manual for the maritime sector, hoping that it would be ready by the end of this month.
This he said would enable the NSIB to hold stakeholders’ engagement in the marine and other sub-sectors of the transport industry.
Experts’ Views
Commenting on the performance of NSIB in the last year, Grp. Capt. John Ojikutu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Centurion Security and Safety Consults, said that Badeh Jr. has brought stability to the agency since assuming office almost 18 months ago.
He, however, expressed regret that the non-compliance to the establishment Act of the NSIB by some other agencies, especially those outside the aviation industry was slowing down the pace of the bureau.
According to him, at least 5 percent of the annual earnings of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and other beneficiaries of NSIB services for instance, should be remitted to the bureau.
Ojukutu regretted that the National Assembly had surprisingly kept mute on the non-compliance of these agencies on the remittance of some percentage of their IGRs to the NSIB, but attributed this to the expansion of the scope of the bureau to other modes of transportation.
He said, “This issue can only be resolved by the National Assembly from the debate on the bill, which I had the opportunity to contribute to at the National Assembly. Unfortunately, there were interests within and out of the assembly.
“I have my correspondence to the national assembly on NISB and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Nimet) after the bill that created them. Since they both now serve other agencies besides the aviation industry, their budget expenditures must now be complemented by these agencies that are benefiting from their services.
“Most of these other agencies are in the transportation system or ministry. The confusion arose from the exit of aviation from the transportation ministry. Whatever that is happening to these two agencies, the national assembly is very much an accomplice. The solution is to revisit the 2022 Act and make NISB and Nimet autonomous agencies.”
Capt. Mohammed Badamasi, aviation expert, said that the NSIB was a model of the NTSB.
He said the major challenge militating its function is the failure of other transport modes to cooperate with it and comply with its Act.
But he insisted as the creation of the National Assembly, every transport agency, irrespective of mode, should comply with its Act.
He added: “If the present management of NISB can overcome these challenges, there is no reason for any branch of the transport systems that will not comply with the directives of the bureau; after all, NSIB was created by an act of the National Assembly.”
He also called for equal representation of the stakeholders in the transportation industry in NSIB, while its investigation equipment are upgraded to include road, sea and rail transport systems.
He also canvassed for urgent training of new investigators to the NSIB for them to appropriately develop their knowledge about the transport sector.
Besides, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo, the General Secretary, Aviation Round Table (ART), said it was necessary for NSIB to get its deserved earnings from the other agencies it provides services to.
He also proposed that the NSIB should be removed from the apron string of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and made an agency or a department in the presidency for full compliance with its Act by the other transport agencies.
Ohunayo feared that without the intervention of the presidency, the developmental works of NSIB would not be appreciated, while the effort to enhance safety in the other modes of transportation may not be achieved.
He said: “The structures here are so wired to work with only the department they report to and collaboration and coordination have always been a problem, even from the agencies that are within the same ministry.
“The NSIB has no business being under the control of the Ministry of Aviation. Rather, the NSIB should be under the presidency and when this happens, all the other modes of transportation will now work actively with it.
“You need the presidency to use the centre of transportation within the presidency to be created where the NSIB will now be domiciled and it is where it is domiciled that all the other modes of transportation will now report to. They must be coordinated centrally and must be driven by the presidency, not from the Ministry of Aviation.”
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT
