The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian Navy to enhance mutual efforts in the prevention and mitigation of accidents and serious incidents in the country’s transportation sector.
Spokesman for NSIB, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi, said in a statement that the MoU was signed on Tuesday in Abuja by the director general of the bureau, Mr. Akin Olateru and the chief of naval standards and safety, Rear Admiral Perry Uwazulike, for the Nigerian Navy.
He said the deal would enhance efforts towards the initiation and implementation of effective plans as regard accidents and serious incidents.
He quoted Olateru as saying that the MoU would benefit the bureau in the area of safety, research, capacity building, diving, search and rescue, retrieval of flight data recorders (FDR) in maritime environment, data analysis and for assistance in the conduct of investigations on naval platforms.
“This MoU is coming at the right time we need the Navy most. We would need to come up with a standard operating procedure (SOP) on how we can strengthen this relationship. It is not about signing the document, there is a lot of work to be done,” Olateru said.
While appreciating the NN for making the agreement happen, the director general disclosed that the mandate of the NSIB is to investigate accidents and serious incidents that occur in all modes of transportation.
He said the signing of the agreement between NSIB and the NN “is in line with the global practice of inter-agency partnership between the civil air accident investigation agencies and the military to promote air safety.”
He added that it is also a response by the bureau to the federal government’s call for synergies among agencies of government for good service delivery.
“All over the world the military partners with the civil to achieve a set objective, as this is not peculiar to Nigeria. The benefits of any strategic collaboration of government institutions is for the common good of the country’, Olateru said.
The director general also used the opportunity to disclose that the bureau is currently in transition following its recent change of nomenclature from Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) to NSIB and the repeal of the Civil Aviation Act 2006 and replacement by NSIB (Establishment) Act 2022 by the Federal Government.
By the change of name, Olateru said the bureau is now empowered to investigate not only air accidents but civil, maritime, rail and other modes of transportation networks for improved safety in accordance with the global practice.
“The accident Investigators are separated from regulators. This is the practice today all over the world,” he said.
He expressed the bureau’s readiness to partner with the NN to ensure that both agencies reap the full benefits of the collaboration even as he urged the Nigerian Navy to take advantage of the Bureau’s well equipped Safety Laboratory to achieve the mandate and the statutory function of both institutions, as need arises in keeping with the MoU objectives.
In his remarks, the chief of the naval staff, Vice Admiral Auwal Gambo who was represented by the chief of policy and plans, Rear Admiral Suleiman Seidu, said the MoU gives credence to the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari on inter-agency collaboration aimed at enhancing national security.
“The NN, by this MoU, will benefit from the resources provided by the NSIB while the NSIB in a like manner will benefit from utilizing resources provided by the NN.”
Gambo further said the MoU, which seeks to support the parties in safety, research, training, capacity building and deployment of other incidental services beneficial to the discharge of its mandate, will also avail the NN with requisite skills and expertise and use of the NSIB’s laboratory for accident investigation, among others.
While pledging to exercise the required leadership in attaining optimal standards in accident prevention and mitigation, Gambo also implored the NSIB to continue to assist in maintaining appropriate standards on accident prevention and mitigation.
The NSIB, under its former name, AIBN, signed local agreements with the Nigerian Air force, the University of Lagos, the University of Ilorin among others and is currently seeking agreements with the Nigerian Police, Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The Bureau has also signed international agreements with France BEA, Sao-Tome and Principe, Sierra-Leone, Benin Republic and recently with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Accident Investigation Bureau (KSA-AIB).
