The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has asked stakeholders and professionals in the country’s aviation sector in particular to desist from making speculative comments when such incidents or accidents occur.
The general manager public affairs at NSIB, Mr Tunji Oketunbi who made the appeal while speaking to aviation journalists, insisted that it was unprofessional to make categorical statements and comments on the cause of a serious incident or an accident when the investigators were yet to make their findings public.
Oketunbi was particularly uncomfortable with some statements attributed to some of the professionals in the sector on the accident, which involved two pilots.
According to Oketunbi, professionals ought to know the rules guiding accident reports and standards and recommended practices stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisations (ICAO).
TheInternational Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 13, Oketunbi said outlines the processes leading to the conduct of an accident investigation, stressing that it says that preliminary report should be released within 30 days of the occurrence and final report within 12 months of the occurrence following the completion of investigation.
While assuring that NSIB, as usual, would carry out a thorough investigation on the accident and release to the public workable recommendations to prevent recurrence,
Oketunbi cautioned that such speculations may ridicule the image of the country in the comity of nations and appealed to commentators on the accident to wait for the outcome of its investigation before going to the public with their personal opinions.
His words: “People should stop all these insinuations about the immediate or remote cause of the accident. Whosoever that owns the aircraft involved in the crash doesn’t matter. This is an aviation industry, and we must not be seen to be commenting from the position of ignorance. Aviation is highly regulated, and we adhere to the standards and recommended practices of ICAO, which is the minimum.
“Everyone should wait for NSIB to commence its investigation, come out with its preliminary and final reports, which we believe will prevent a recurrence. People should allow us to do our job. We cannot be influenced by emotions or speculations that are currently in the public space. As usual, we will be professional with our investigation and reports.”
Oketunbi also urged the media to desist from publishing inaccurate reports on the crash.
The Jabiru J430 light single engine aircraft with the registration number: 5N CCQ had crashed at Oba Akran in the afternoon of Tuesday on its way to Ibadan for a test flight.