Covid-19 has affected our revenues greatly, says AIB Commissioner
The Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) is one of such agencies in the aviation industry that has been hit hard in terms of insufficient revenue and funding in the face of Covid-19.
The Bureau’s Commissioner, Engr. Akin Olateru, recently disclosed at a Gateway Forum organized by the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents in Lagos that the pandemic has affected its revenue sources greatly.
According to him, the ravaging effect of the pandemic on the global aviation industry has crippled flight activities in the country, thereby blocking revenue sources of stakeholders and parastatals that depend largely on the 5 per cent ticket charge for funding.
Olateru said the Bureau recognizes its critical role in the industry with regards to safety recommendations through investigative reports, and has performed very well in recent past, but funding has been a major drawback during the pandemic.
“In terms of performance, we refused to let the pandemic affect us. We are still doing what we would do normally, Covid-19 or not. We still ensure we deliver on our mandate, we ensure we do what we have to do, but the only problem we have is funding. Covid-19 has affected our revenues greatly.
You know our source of revenue is from the 3 per cent we get out of the 5 per cent we collect from the Ticket Sales Charge/Cargo Sales Charge (TSC/CSC). So, in terms of affecting us, it’s more of less funding. But, in terms of doing delivery on our mandate, we made sure it hasn’t affected us in anyway,” said Olateru.
Responding further to questions on what other challenges the Bureau has faced under his leadership, Olateru highlighted four critical areas it has faced challenges due to poor funding, but thanked the Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, and the National Assembly for coming to the rescue.
He said, “When you look at it, challenges could come in, in any organsiations in four major areas; equipment, infrastructure, human capital and systems processes and procedures.
I always say that if you score less than 7 out of 10 in any of these four areas, you still don’t have a company. If you have the best equipment and you don’t have manpower, you are not going anywhere. And if you have the best manpower, equipment, but you don’t have a good infrastructure and there are no systems and procedures to help them navigate their workings, you are not going anywhere.
So, those four areas, I will say we had a huge challenge in them when I came in. Of course, the pillar of all the four is funding, but with the support of Aviation Minister and the National Assembly, we have been able to navigate throughout that.”
On whether the Bureau would consider generating revenue for its services like other agencies in the industry to boost its funding or not, the AIB boss said the Bureau does not have the statutory right to charge for services but was creating sources that would start generating revenue.
“Under the United Nations (UN) Charter, we cannot charge for our services, which is accident investigation and it’s our core mandate. But, there is nothing stopping us from looking at other areas.
I have made mention of the material science lab, we have signed a MoUs with the University of Lagos, University of Ilorin and we are talking with a university in the United Kingdom on the things we need on this material science laboratory so that we can start earning money from this.
The training school is another way we want to earn money. Of course we as a responsible government agency, we are looking for a way and ways of improving our funding positions,” he said.
