By Adedapo Adesanya
Airline operators and business organisations in the Nigerian aviation industry have been advised to tap into opportunities offered by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other financial institutions on the continent to prevent collapse.
The airline operators were also advised to align their business plans with the safety management system in order to prevent early close of shop.
Besides, stakeholders in the sector have canvassed for crowd control at accident sites, saying that this posed a serious threat to rescue and gathering of data for accident investigation by investigating body.
These and more were contained in a communiqué issued at the Nigerian Aviation Workshop Symposium (NAWS) 2020 with the theme A Safety Management System Approach to Responses to Aviation Accidents and Incidents within Nigerian Airspace organised by Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) held on Monday in Abuja.
Participants at the one-day symposium said that lack of SMS in most aviation organisations, especially the airlines led to their early death, stressing that adoption of SMS would aid survival in case such an organisation experiences crisis.
Participants also canvassed for creation of aviation information portal, which would help in tracking and ensuring accountability of airport personnel and their locations.
According to them, regular training for the emergency personnel in various organisations and consistent public awareness in partnership with local governments and communities would also go a long way in ensuring the sustenance of safety in the system.
Participants further charged airline operators, service providers and others to encourage a culture of voluntary or confidential reporting system in their organisation in order to boost confidence in the sector.
The communiqué added: “They should model their organisations after a generative type having a ‘just’ culture, which promotes self-reporting by personnel.”
They should avoid being a pathological organisation, which would invariably discourage reporting. “Every agency has a role to play in aviation emergency. Each role must be delineated to avoid duplication and undue overlap. The need for training, therefore, cannot be over-emphasised.
As such, each agency should assess courses and detail its personnel to undertake such courses. Ultimately, this would also promote a harmonious working relationship between agencies.”
The Commissioner, AIB, Mr Akin Olateru, in his opening remarks, noted that the objective of safety management in the aviation industry was to prevent human injury or loss of life, to avoid damage to the environment and property.
Mr Olateru declared that safety in the aviation industry could not be over-emphasised, noting that AIB’s mandate was to investigate aircraft accidents, serious incidents that occur within the Nigerian airspace or anywhere else the country’s interest was affected.
He noted that investigating accidents in order to forestall future reoccurrence was very important in promoting safety, adding that having systems in place to mitigate risks and promote safety was equally vital
He added: “The primary aim of NAWS 2020 today is to provide the Nigerian aviation industry workforce and stakeholders with a systematic approach compliant with the aviation regulations and laws of the state of Nigeria while responding to aviation accidents and incidents as well as disaster recovery.”
He explained that the bureau had entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigeria Air Force (NAF), the University of Ilorin and the University of Lagos, among others.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Modupe Gbadeyanka