Senate Passes Act Establishing Multimodal Accident Investigation Agency

Chinedu Eze

The Senate on has passed the bill for the Act to provide for the establishment of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), a multimodal accident investigation agency, coming about a month after the House of Representatives passed the same bill.

When assented to by the President, the Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N) would transform into a multi-modal safety investigation agency, adding Rail and Maritime to Aircraft Accident Investigation.

Addressing AIB staff on the development, the Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of AIB, Akin Olateru said, “It is with great pleasure that I announce that our new bill before the National Assembly has been passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives. The establishment of the NSIB will put Nigeria at the top in Africa as regards transportation accident investigation with the country becoming the firstto have such agency in the continent and it is happening under the visionary guidance and leadership of the Minister of Aviation, HadiSirika.

“I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the HonourableMinister of Aviation and you all, my wonderful dedicated AIB team. Thank you for your patience, hard work, perseverance and dedication to this cause.

“Thank you for revising, reviewing, editing and committing tirelessly to getting the bill prepared. Our efforts have been justly rewarded with success, and I appreciate each and every one of you.”

Enlarging the operations of AIB into a multimodal agency was one of the cardinal programmes of Olateru when he assumed office as the fourth Commissioner of AIB in 2017. Olateru stated that the establishment of the NSIB would provide an adequate legal and institutional framework for the regulation and administration of safety transportation occurrences in Nigeria.

“The NSIB would reinforce safety in all modes of transportation in Nigeria through distinctive, efficient and effective investigations of accidents and serious incidents involving any of the modes of transportation within Nigeria or anywhere else Nigeria’s interest is affected.

It will determine the probable causes of accidents and serious incident occurrences in transportation and publish safety recommendations to operators, regulators and others, which would help prevent the recurring of similar occurrences, therefore, improving the safety of transportation in Nigeria,” he said.

Reacting to the news of the passage of the bill, the Commissioner of Banjul Accord Group Accident Investigation Agency (BAGAIA), Charles Erhue said, “This is a great feat to the AIB family and to the Banjul Accord Group (BAG) region. I wish to congratulate the Commissioner and entire AIB management team with the support of every staff who has committed time and resources in one way or the other to make this a huge success.”