NSIB DG laments uncooperative attitude of transport, maritime agencies
The Director-General of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Capt. Alex Badeh Jnr. has lamented the uncooperative stance of transportation and maritime agencies in the quest to strengthen and streamline accident investigations in the country.
He called for synergy and collaborations among stakeholders in the different transport modes to improve safety and accident prevention a priority.
The NSIB helmsman spoke at a panel session at forum where he stated that safety is paramount in all the means of transportation.
Whilst it was initially restricted to accident investigations in the aviation sector bearing AccidentInvestigationBureau(AIB, a new amendment Act has expanded its scope to investigate accidents in all modes of transportation in the country and christened it the NSIB.
The forum, put together by the Transportation Correspondents Association of Nigeria (TCAN) had “Intermodal Transport: Prospects and Challenges.” as its theme.
He said, “Aviation industry is the second most regulated industry in the world after medicine. We talk about regulations all over the world. The more loss of lives, the more heavy regulations you see in the industry.
“And then we find that, here, aside from aviation, everyone treats safety as a secret. You approach the other agencies but they tell you, we are not aviation, why should we collaborate with you?
Accident happens, you send a letter to the agencies but they ignore you. We can’t be everywhere as a bureau. For example, some maritime agencies don’t want to cooperate with us.”
The DG however reiterated the readiness of the safety bureau to replicate the safety enjoyed in the aviation sector to other modes of transportation with the cooperation and support of other agencies involved.
According to him, the NSIB investigation is not to assign blame but to ensure the safety of lives of the people.
“As far as we are concerned in NSIB, we want full cooperation of other agencies. NSIB is ready and Nigeria is ready. Accident prevention is not just the responsibility of us the accident investigators or the regulators. It is the responsibility of the public.
“So I will encourage TCAN and other agencies here to educate the public more and more. Let us work together to make safety foundation of our transportation in Nigeria,” he added.
