The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Accident Investigation Bureau have inaugurated a joint committee to enforce safety recommendations in order to reduce air mishaps.

Both agencies inaugurated the committee in Abuja on Wednesday as the 11-man team was tasked to collaborate, corporate, coordinate and enforce regulations that would enhance aviation safety.

The Chief Executive Officer, AIB, Akin Olateru, said the committee would review recommendations of his bureau on accidents and help in its implementation across the country, going forward.

He said, “Both agencies have nominated five representatives each to the floor of the committee, while one representative has been nominated by the Federal Ministry of Aviation.

“The 11-man joint committee members will collaborate on the review of NCAA responses on safety recommendations issued by the AIB on accidents and serious incidents, implementation and continuous cooperation of safety programmes.”

Olateru explained that after the AIB had investigated accidents and serious incidents to prevent future reoccurrence, the NCAA, being the regulator of the industry, would ensure that AIB’s recommendations were complied with by operators.

“This is the whole essence of this committee; they are to look through the safety recommendations, implementation levels and guide us both on what to do to make it effectively implemented,” he said.

The Director-General, NCAA, Musa Nuhu, said both agencies were working to establish compatible software to enable the sharing of safety data, which was also part of the mandate of the committee.

Nuhu also pointed out that airlines that fail to report accidents or serious incidents to the authority or AIB could lose their Air Operator Certificates.

He said, “Another area for the committee to address is the establishment of procedures for timely transfer of occurrences either way.

“This is to ensure that valid and valuable evidences are not completely lost before the transferee authority commences investigation.”

NCAA and AIB are key agencies in the aviation sector. The NCAA regulates the industry, while the AIB investigates serious incidents and accidents.

Officials of both agencies said they had been collaborating over the years on aviation safety, but noted that the partnership that they entered on Wednesday was to deepen and make their collaboration formal.