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The Senate Committee on Aviation has
directed the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to make public its
findings of aircraft accidents that occurred in the country between
2005 and 2006 which led to the untimely demise of hundreds of air
travellers.

Explaining that the move will assist in
the prevention of any future occurrence, the committee stated that
should the reports be published on national dailies, investors in the
aviation industry and the general public will be enlightened.
“Investigations are meant to provide insight into the cause or causes
of such accidents, and possibly proffer solution to future
occurrences,” said Anyim Ude, the Committee Chairman, on Tuesday, at an
Aviation Safety Conference organized by the AIB in Lagos. “Reports of
such investigations ought to be published for public consumption so
that people can know and learn from the findings and recommendations of
such investigations.”

Mr Ude noted that the findings of the
agency as regards the accidents involving Bellview and Sosoliso
airlines in 2005 are still unpublished by the bureau, adding that it is
part of the statutory responsibility of the agency to investigate,
prevent, and assist in the revealing of air accidents and effective
management in air safety. “This is the major way the Accident and
Investigation Bureau can impact positively on aviation safety,” he
said. “For now there is absence of published reports of previous air
crashes in Nigeria. Where are the Bellview and Sosoliso crashes? Where
is the report of the ADC 2008 plane crash?.”

An under utilized agency

Mr Ude, however, admitted that the only
agency in the aviation industry that is under regulated is the bureau,
stressing that out of the 40 sections of the Civil Aviation Act 2006,
only 29 deals with accident investigation. “As part of our over sight
responsibility, the senate committee on aviation has been concerned
about issues that will promote safety, security of our airspace and
airport,” he said. “Presently, the committee has in collaboration with
an international agency embark on the Act that establish our aviation
parastatals in order to solve the problems of overlapping, assignments
of responsibilities and inconsistencies inherent in these Acts. At the
appropriate time the committee will involve and request these
parastatals for their input. In the cause of this amendment, the
committee discovered that of all the aviation parastatals, only the AIB
is under regulated because only section 29 of the Civil Aviation Act of
2006 mentioned accident out of more than 40 sections of that Act, this
is inadequate.”

Sam Oduselu, the Commissioner of the AIB, said that the agency had
concluded investigations it carried out on the accidents and that there
are constitutional recommendations before these findings will be
published, adding that the report will be published on the agency’s
website once it goes through the statutory requirements. “To the glory
of God we have been able to do a research on these accidents and we
have actually finished our report but there are statutory requirements
for it to go over and that is just what we are waiting for,” he said.
“If you noticed when he was saying that I was just laughing because I
know I have done my job. Bear with us, very soon you will see it on our
website.”