A Communique issued at the end of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI) 3rd 2019 Quarterly Business Breakfast Meeting held at GolfView Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Thursday, September 19, 2019.

Theme: Advantages of Implementing AIB Recommendations

At the end of the four-hour discussion, the following resolutions were reached:

  1. Both the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) and the regulator, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have a common goal of promoting aviation safety and preventing air accidents from occurring and therefore, should work together to achieve this goal
  2. The NCAA, service providers and operators may not implement certain recommendations if after using a risk-based approach involving safety and possibly cost, they find the recommendation unimplementable, they must notify the AIB in writing with reasons. For the service providers and operators, they must, in turn, notify the NCAA stating the reasons clearly.
  3. We encourage constant and effective communication between the NCAA and AIB to achieve the desired collaboration in the industry’s interest
  4. Airline operators must be willing to sacrifice economic interest to achieve safety in order to sustain the existence for operations
  5. While the NCAA carries out its responsibility of seeking the prosperity of airline operators, the regulator has to ensure that necessary safety recommendations from the AIB are implemented in the interest of the industry
  6. The AIB has no powers to enforce any safety recommendation but has a duty to make such recommendations in their reports to promote safety in the industry
  7. There is a need for emphasis on and implementation of safety recommendations and outcomes of accident investigations, rather than forget everything about the investigations after so much publicity about the accident itself
  8. We need to change our perception of AIB and accident investigation, stakeholders must realise that the goal of accident investigation is to prevent reoccurrence and not to punish anyone or look for culprits
  9. Accident investigations and their outcomes have global effects on the industry and therefore, aviation journalists should be factual in their reports, stating things the way they are
  10. There is a need for frequent and adequate training of aviation reporters on aviation accidents investigation in order to enhance the quality of reportage of air accidents in particular and the industry’s activities in general
  11. Every stakeholder in Nigeria’s aviation industry has a role to play in air safety advancement because safety is everybody’s business.

Dr. Gabriel O. Olowo, FNIM, FITP

President.