The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has urged stakeholders and professionals in Nigeria’s aviation industry to desist from making speculative comments on the ill-fated Jabiru J430 aircraft which crashed in Lagos on Tuesday.
Spokesman for the Bureau, Mr Tunji Oketunbi, made the appeal in an interview with journalists in Lagos on Thursday.
He said it is “unprofessional” to make categorical statements and comments on the cause of a serious incident or an accident when the investigators are yet to make their findings public.
He was particularly incensed by remarks by some aviation professionals on the accident saying “as professionals, they ought to know the rules guiding accident reports and standards and recommended practices stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisations (ICAO).”
According to Oketunbi, ICAO Annex 13 outlines the processes leading to the conduct of an accident investigation.
He said a clause in the Annex stipulates that preliminary report should be released within 30 days of the occurrence and final report within 12 months of the occurrence following the completion of investigation.
He assured that the NSIB would carry out a thorough investigation on the accident and release to the public
Oketunbi warned against premature comments saying such are capable of ridiculing the image of the country in the comity of nations and appealed to commentators on the accident to wait for the outcome of its investigation before going to the public with their personal opinions.
“People should stop all these insinuations about the immediate or remote cause of the accident. Whosoever that owns the aircraft involved in the crash doesn’t matter.
“This is an aviation industry and we must not be seen to be commenting from the position of ignorance. Aviation is highly regulated, and we adhere to the standards and recommended practices of ICAO, which is the minimum.
“Everyone should wait for NSIB to commence its investigation, come out with its preliminary and final reports, which we believe will prevent a recurrence. People should allow us to do our job.
“We cannot be influenced by emotions or speculations that are currently in the public space. As usual, we will be professional with our investigation and reports,” he said.
Recall that the single engine aircraft marked 5N CCQ crashed on Oba Akran Avenue in the Ikeja area of Lagos during a test flight. The two souls on board survived the accident
