Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau [AIB], Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer, Akin Olateru, has made proposal for major aviation safety initiative to help boost Aviation Safety in Africa which he observed has continued to struggle on the world scale.
Olateru, who stated this at the international aviation safety meeting in Ottawa, Canada, said it is high time the narrative was changed.
Presenting his vision to significantly enhance aviation safety in Nigeria at the recently concluded Plane Sciences/AIRINC international users conference in Ottawa, Canada, the AIB chief disclosed that the Nigerian AIB already has a state-of-the-art flight recorder playback and analysis laboratory in Abuja, which was built by Plane Sciences subject-matter-experts (SME’s) and is ranked by the International Society of Air Safety Investigators as among the best in the world.
Historically, majority of work by investigation authorities is in reaction to an aviation accident or serious incident, but Olateru presented a plan to change all that by championing the development of a proactive Aviation Safety Center to service not only Nigeria, but neighbouring countries in the region.
According to the Commissioner, it is critical that Nigeria takes advantage of existing flight data related technologies that are historically fragmented across the industry serving various stakeholders.
