The Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N) has said that no fewer than 75 per cent of air accidents in the Nigeria occur due to human factors.
The AIB-N Commissioner, Mr. Akin Olateru, in an interview with newsmen in Lagos ahead of the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) one day conference in Lagos, said some of the human factors, included inadequate training for technical personnel, poor facilities, fatigue and poor communication between the cockpit and the control tower amongst others.
He explained that like the majority of accidents, these aviation disasters could have been prevented if the necessary precautionary measures were put in place or observed to stop their occurrences.
According to Olateru though, a few of the human errors in Nigeria in recent time did not necessarily lead to loss of human lives, he lamented that replacement of any damaged parts in aircraft due to human errors cost the operators millions of naira, which could have been channelled to other important aspects of their operations.
“After an analysis of the several accident reports we have released since 2017, it has become apparent that about 75 per cent of these accidents and incidents have resulted from human factors. This conference is part of the fulfillment of AIB’s mandate of preventing accident occurrences and reoccurrence and public advocacy of accident situational management”.
He hoped that through the LAAC conference with the theme: ‘Preventing Human Factors In Accident Occurences’, the aviation industry in the globe especially in Nigeria would be safer, insisting that some of the serious incidents and accidents were avoidable.
The AIB-N boss said the bureau decided to partner LAAC because of its antecedents in organising successful conferences with useful communiqué, adding that as a league of journalists, the association had in several occasions, promoted air safety and robust journalism.
“LAAC is a dependable ally in this project, considering the various conferences that the association has held in recent years, which have impacted the industry positively. The conference is expected to among other things, educate airline and airport operators, aviation agency personnel, aviation reporters, accident emergency responders and other stakeholders on measures that can help reduce human factors in air accident and incident occurrences, while equipping aviation reporters with more knowledge for accurate reportage of accident and incident occurrences.”
“However, due to the COVID-19 protocols, physical attendance is restricted to only 80 participants. So, attendance is strictly by invitation. Other participants can join virtually on Zoom network through a code that would be generated and publicised before the day.”
AIB-N is statutorily responsible for investigating air accidents and serious incidents in the industry. Its duty is recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Annex 13 – Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation, which contains the international standards and recommended practices.
