Aviation stakeholders have expressed divergent views over a bill seeking to relocate the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) from the ministry to the presidency
The Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development has strongly expressed its objection to the plan of the National Assembly to transfer the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) currently domiciled under the ministry to the Office of Secretary General of the Federation (OSGF).
The Permanent secretary Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, gave the position of the ministry before the joint committee on special duties and aviation during a public hearing on Wednesday.
According to Kana, the NSIB was established with a mandate to investigate accidents in marine, land, and airspace. He noted that the bureau under the aviation ministry has never compromised. He urged the lawmakers to retain the agency under the ministry while optimising its operational framework to guarantee its independence
He said “I recommend that the National Assembly and relevant stakeholders should please retain NSIB under the Aviation Ministry.
“We would also recommend strengthening statutory provisions that guarantee its functional independence where necessary,” Kana added
However, supporting the bill, the Permanent Secretary for Political and Economic Affairs at the OSGF, Engr. Gagare Nadungu, argued that the Presidency, through the SGF, offers a centralized coordination structure better suited to host the bureau. He maintained that placing the NSIB under the presidency would promote broader national oversight and institutional independence.
Similarly, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dr. Onwusoro Maduka, emphasized the need for the bureau to operate independently, especially in the conduct of accident investigations.
Bill sponsor positsÂ
Sponsor of the bill, Rep. Isiaq Abiodun Akinlade, argued that the bureau’s current placement under the aviation ministry undermines its effectiveness due to institutional bottlenecks, lack of independence, and poor inter-agency coordination across Nigeria’s transport regulatory ecosystem.
“Globally, leading accident investigation bodies like the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States operate as autonomous agencies, reporting directly to the highest levels of government,” Rep. Akinlade said. “This structure guarantees independence, credibility, and efficiency in accident investigations.”
He highlighted key challenges confronting the NSIB under its current placement, including:
- Lack of institutional independence, raising concerns about impartiality and operational autonomy;
- Overlapping mandates with agencies such as the FRSC, NCAA, NIMASA, NIWA, and NRC, which operate under different ministries but perform similar accident investigation functions;
- Limited access to high-level decision-making required to resolve inter-agency conflicts and implement safety recommendations.
According to him, the current structure, tied to a single ministry, restricts the bureau’s autonomy and compromises its credibility.
“International best practices favor independent investigative bodies,” Rep. Akinlade said. “Relocating the NSIB to the Presidency would help overcome these structural limitations and empower the Bureau to fulfill its mandate across Nigeria’s multi-modal transport sector.”
About NSIB
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) is the country’s sole multimodal accident investigation body. It was established in 2022 via Act No. 35, referred to as the NSIB (Establishment) Act, 2022, replacing former Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).
The agency is tasked with investigating transportation accidents across air, marine, rail, and tracked vehicle systems in Nigeria.
