The director-general of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Akin Olateru, has said the bureau could put Nigeria at the top in Africa in accident investigations.

In an interview on Wednesday in Abuja, Mr Olateru stated that the law that established NSIB had placed the capacity of the bureau above some of its counterparts in Africa.

“This will put Nigeria at the top in Africa as regards transportation accident investigations, with the country becoming the first to have such a bureau in the continent,” he said.

According to Mr Olateru, this has assisted the bureau in investigating railway, maritime and aircraft accidents.

“NSIB has also been positioned to reinforce safety in all the modes of transportation in Nigeria.

“This is through distinctive, efficient and effective investigations of accidents and serious incidents involving any means of transportation within the country or anywhere Nigeria’s interest is affected,” he said.

The director-general said the bureau had published 75 reports and issued 252 safety recommendations since its inception in 2007.

According to him, 75 per cent of all the bureau’s final reports and 68 per cent of safety recommendations since 2007 were released in the last five years.

Mr Olateru said the bureau, operating under the Federal Ministry of Aviation, investigates civil aircraft and other accidents and has offices in Abuja, Kano and Enugu airports.

“The bureau’s core functions are to investigate air accidents and other serious incidents that occur within the Nigerian air space and anywhere the country’s interests are affected. It also makes safety recommendations.

“Also, it gathers and analyses air safety data for accident and incident prevention purposes.

“The bureau equally monitors implementations of safety recommendations by carrying out accident prevention monitoring programmes, in accordance with Section 29 of Civil Aviation Act, 2006,” he said. 

(NAN)