Accident Investigation Bureau Commissioner, Engr. Akin Olateru has called for effective collaboration between air transport and tourism industry, saying the two sectors must work in synergy for effectiveness and development of the nation’s economy.
Olateru explained that air transport and tourism complement each other, pointing out that tourism depends on transportation to facilitate the movement of visitors, while transportation industry depends on tourism to generate revenues for its services.
Presenting a paper titled ‘Best Practices in Civil Aircraft Accident Prevention and Investigation for Sustainable Development of the Transportation and Tourism Industry,’ at the 2020 National Tourism and Transportation Summit and Expo 2020, held in Abuja on Monday, Olateru noted that the pandemic setback the country’s aviation industry
According to him, the Nigerian aviation industry has contributed created over 340,000 direct jobs contributing up to $1.7 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the advent of Covid-19 pandemic, which crippled the world’s economy according to statistics from presented by the International Air Transport Association IATA), recently.
General Manager, Public Affairs, AIB Mr. Tunji Oketunbi stated in a Press Release that the AIB Helmsman Olateru was represented at the occasion by Capt Dayyabu Danraka, Director of Operations.
Olateru added that air transport in addition to facilitating integration into global economy and providing vital connectivity on a national, regional and international scale, also helps to generate trade, promote tourism as well as create job opportunities.
He emphasized that the industry, according to the World Bank Group, was an important enabler to achieving economic growth and development insisting that air transport was part of a broader travel and tourism sector, widely recognized as the world’s largest industry.
On the role of the Accident Investigation Bureau in the Industry, he explained that AIB Nigeria had consistently carried out its duties in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13, disclosing that a draft bill to establish a multimodal transportation safety investigation system had passed the second reading at the National Assembly.
He said the bill seeks to expand the scope of accidents and serious incidents investigation to cover the air, maritime and rail transportation, occurrences, stressing that the experience garnered over the years in air accident investigation would be applied to the other two modes of transportation investigation of occurrences.
Olateru observed that, no matter what transport mode is, accident always erode the public’s confidence in the safety of the transport system, explaining that accident could lead to injury or death and could cause environmental and economic disaster.
He insisted that independent investigations into causes of accidents and major incidents helped to prevent tragedies and accident recurrence, thereby playing an important role in improving transport safety and bringing back the public confidence in transportation, leading towards sustainable development of transportation and tourism industries.
He noted that that the Civil Aviation Act 2006 and the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations of 2016 are the instruments that formed the legal framework upon which civil aviation accidents and incidents investigations are conducted in Nigeria.
