By Samuel Ejiwunmi
In the aftermath of the first-ever Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau Multimodal Transportation Stakeholders’ Workshop, it became clear that the road to a safer and more efficient transport system in Nigeria is long, but not insurmountable. The workshop brought together key stakeholders from Nigeria’s varied transport sectors, air, rail, road, and maritime, to chart a collective path forward under the leadership of the newly expanded NSIB.
Historically, the NSIB, formerly known as the Accident Investigation Bureau, was exclusively responsible for investigating aircraft accidents. However, since 2022, the agency has been tasked with overseeing investigations across multiple transport modes, an ambitious and necessary expansion aimed at improving the country’s fragmented transport safety landscape. This move mirrors the comprehensive approach of the United States National Transportation Safety Board, which handles investigations across all transport sectors, from aviation to rail and maritime.
The transmutation from AIB to NSIB, and its expanded mandate, marks a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s transport safety framework. As highlighted in the workshop, the NSIB is now at the centre of a significant national safety agenda that seeks to establish a unified and transparent system for investigating and preventing accidents.
A defining moment of the workshop was the convergence of Nigeria’s various transport stakeholders, including regulators from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigerian Railway Corporation, and National Inland Waterways Authority, among others. This unprecedented collaboration underscores the need for a comprehensive safety framework in which each transport sector contributes to a greater whole.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, delivered a powerful keynote address, stressing that safety cannot operate in isolation. The interconnected nature of Nigeria’s transport systems, where a railway accident can affect air cargo operations, or a maritime disaster can spill over to inland water transport, requires a multimodal approach. Keyamo’s message was clear: collaboration between regulators and the NSIB is not just beneficial; it is vital to strengthen safety standards nationwide.
Keyamo emphasised the role of transportation as the “lifeblood of any nation’s economy”, connecting people, goods, and services. He highlighted the NSIB Act 2022, which empowered the bureau to also handle rail, road, and maritime investigations. This legal reform, he said, has opened the door for meaningful intermodal collaboration.
“This is the first real step towards a unified safety system. No more isolated responses,” he noted.
Keyamo insisted that strengthening transport safety standards must go beyond policy documents. Agencies must translate findings into clear regulations and measurable improvements. “We want a transport system where every journey is safe, every family reunited, and every sector thrives,” he stated. To achieve this, Keyamo advocated for joint safety initiatives and cross-agency training. He also urged investments in modern technologies such as data retrieval tools and accident reconstruction simulators.
One of the most concrete outcomes of the workshop was the unveiling of three regulatory frameworks by NSIB, aimed at enhancing accident investigations across the rail, maritime, and air transport sectors. These regulations, developed through months of internal review, are designed to guide systematic investigations, offer actionable recommendations, and ultimately, foster a culture of safety within Nigeria’s expanding transport infrastructure. While these regulations are still in draft form, they represent a significant step toward formalising the NSIB’s role as the country’s central investigative body for all transport accidents.
These new regulation frameworks are particularly crucial in the rail sector, where poor documentation, conflicts of interest, and delayed investigations have often compromised safety standards. Former Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Engr Seyi Sijuwade, shared his concerns about in-house investigations, which he criticised for lacking credibility. Sijuwade firmly believes that the NSIB’s independent, neutral platform is exactly what the rail sector needs.
“You cannot be the judge and the jury,” Sijuwade remarked. “NSIB brings the impartiality that is vital for ensuring transparency and accountability in investigations.”
Furthermore, Sijuwade called for the establishment of a national accident and incident database, a vital resource for transparency and long-term safety improvements. This proposal mirrors best practices in transport safety from countries with robust regulatory environments, such as the United States and Germany, where public access to accident data fosters accountability and enables stakeholders to learn from past mistakes.
One of the most significant debates arising from the workshop was the placement of NSIB under the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development. Air Commodore Onitiju of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative raised a valid concern: how can NSIB be truly multimodal if it is still tied to a single ministry? Proponents of the potential relocation of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau from the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the Presidency argue that it would give NSIB greater autonomy, helping it function independently of the sectoral pressures that could arise from being housed within a specific ministry. By aligning NSIB’s authority directly under the Presidency, Nigeria could follow the example of international agencies like the NTSB in the U.S., which operates independently of the Department of Transportation, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which reports directly to Parliament.
The benefits of such a move are clear. First and foremost, operational independence would allow NSIB to conduct investigations across all modes of transport without the risk of bias, ensuring impartiality in its findings and recommendations. This independence would also enhance accountability in the way NSIB’s safety recommendations are followed up and implemented. In Nigeria’s context, the potential for political interference in investigations, particularly in sectors like aviation, maritime or rail, which are closely linked to dominant ministries, could be mitigated by the NSIB’s direct relationship with the presidency.
Another compelling reason for moving NSIB to the Presidency is the potential to enhance its financial independence. Currently, NSIB’s budget is controlled within the Ministry of Aviation, which has led to resource constraints and limited operational scope.
According to the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau Act 2022, the bureau’s funding is expected to come from several sources. These include annual budgetary allocations from the Federal Government. The Act also mandates that certain percentages of revenue from other transport agencies be remitted to the NSIB, such as a three per cent remittance from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency on gross freight from international cargo, and a five per cent remittance from the Nigeria Railway Corporation on ticket sales and cargo charges. In addition, the Act provides for emergency funding to cover the costs of major investigations when regular funds are insufficient. If NSIB were relocated to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the Presidency, it would have greater access to funding aimed at improving transport safety infrastructure.
With NSIB’s statutory obligations spanning multiple sectors, it must conduct comprehensive investigations, not only to uncover causes but also to recommend preventive measures that can save lives and resources. However, the current fragmented governance structure, where each transport mode has its own improvised regulatory body, makes it difficult for NSIB to ensure consistent safety standards across the board.
A move to the Presidency would allow NSIB to take a centralised role, ensuring uniformity in safety standards and facilitating better cross-sector collaboration. By directly reporting to the highest office in the country, NSIB would be better positioned to foster a unified investigative framework, addressing the unique challenges in each transport sector but ensuring that investigations and recommendations follow a consistent, comprehensive process. This would be crucial in Nigeria’s growing rail sector, where internal investigations have often been criticised for credibility issues and conflicts of interest.
“The mere optics of being aviation-led dilutes NSIB’s credibility in the rail, road, and maritime sectors,” Onitiju warned. He proposed that the bureau be relocated under the Presidency, a move that would ensure greater neutrality, public confidence, and independence.
Such a move would align NSIB with global best practices, where investigative bodies like the NTSB are independent of specific transport sectors, ensuring they can operate across all modes without perceived bias or external influence.
During the NSIB Workshop, former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, made an insightful contribution and weighed in on the issue of governance. While he commended NSIB for forging Memoranda of Understanding with key safety partners, he cautioned that MOUs alone were insufficient for building a sustainable safety regime. Ezeoba stressed the need for legal reinforcement to ensure that NSIB’s mandate is not only recognised but also enforceable.
According to Ezeoba, only firm legislative backing can eliminate duplicity and enhance accountability across agencies. “Fragmented governance, overlapping mandates, and inadequate funding have long hindered Nigeria’s transport safety. We need one empowered agency with a unified investigative framework,” he remarked.
The Admiral further noted that each transport sector faces unique safety challenges, but a standardised investigative approach will help ensure that responses, analysis, and enforcement measures are consistent and efficient across all modes. He also identified key barriers to progress, including data-sharing challenges, weak institutional frameworks, and insufficient funding, but he was optimistic that addressing these issues could lead to a more coordinated and effective safety system.
An often-overlooked aspect of transport safety is the mental health of those tasked with investigating the disasters. Former Managing Director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Mr Dennis Jones, shared a powerful insight from his years of experience. He explained that psychological trauma is a real concern for accident investigators who are exposed to horrific scenes of loss and devastation.
“At the NTSB, we deploy psychologists to accident sites because investigators often experience emotional trauma,” Jones revealed. “Some suffer from PTSD. Others carry the trauma for life. That’s why we maintain mental health protocols to support them through the process.”
For Nigeria to build a resilient and professional accident investigation system, NSIB must prioritise the mental health of its personnel. This would ensure that investigators can approach their work with the necessary emotional strength and empathy, ultimately improving the quality of their investigations.
As Nigeria continues to invest in expanding and modernising its transport infrastructure, new rail lines, expanded seaports, and upgraded pipeline grids, the role of NSIB will only grow in importance. To truly become a signpost for safety, NSIB must be equipped with the legal authority, institutional backing, and financial resources it needs to carry out its expanded mandate effectively.
The NSIB has already made significant strides, and with continued political will, institutional cooperation, and legal reforms, it has the potential to be the driving force behind a safer, more efficient transport system in Nigeria.
From train derailments to aviation accidents, from boat capsizing to truck accidents, the challenges are real. But with a strengthened NSIB, these serious incidents and accidents can be investigated thoroughly, lessons can be learnt, and future disasters can be prevented through the implementation of NSIB’s recommendations by entities and agencies. Supporting the agency’s mandate is not only a regulatory necessity, but it is a moral imperative that will save lives, enhance infrastructure, and contribute to a more sustainable and prosperous future for all Nigerians. The time to act is now.
Dr Ejiwunmi writes from Lagos
