Aviation: 63% safety recommendations complied with – AIB

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has said that over 63 per cent of its safety recommendations have been closed in the past 15 years while 14 others are partially closed.

This is as the agency further said that air safety had improved in the country in the past 10 years.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Lagos, the spokesman, AIB, Mr. Tunji Oketunbi informed that since year 2000, the bureau had made 158 safety recommendations arising from major incidents and accidents in the sector, adding that 63 per cent of these had been complied with by affected parties, players in the sector and closed while 14 per cent were partially.

He added that additional 23 per cent of its safety recommendations remained opened and yet to be closed.

He further recalled that the Ministerial Committee set up by the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka in 2014 also in its recommendations disclosed that no fewer than 100 of its safety recommendations had been closed with 36 open gaps and 22 partially closed.

Oketunbi declared that the investigative agency by law had no right to force compliance to its recommendations, but noted that it had safety monitoring exercise, which confirmed if its recommendations had been complied with or not.

He said, “Right now, a lot of safety recommendations have been implemented. There are still some that are open while others have been partially implemented. Since 2000, we have issued 158 safety recommendations and 63 per cent of them have been closed, 14 per cent partially closed and 23 per cent still open.

“That’s the current status on implementation of our safety recommendation; it is very ingenious for anybody to continue to use a data of a year or two years ago to talk about the current status.”