The train and staff bus accidents that happened in the state’s Ikeja area earlier this month would be included in a report, according to the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Entrepreneurng report.
This is because the bureau has decided to strengthen its partnerships with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on methods to improve safety in the rail and road sector.
To further strengthen the cooperation between the organizations, the agencies have decided to form a committee to work on the Memorandum of Understanding. Director-General of NSIB, Akin Olateru, stated yesterday during courtesy visits to the two organizations in Lagos that their investigators had started looking into the causes and contributing factors of the railway and bus disaster in Lagos on March 9, 2023.
He clarified that the report’s public release will also contain safety advice for all parties on how a repeat may be prevented in the future.
Addressing LASEMA, Olateru expressed regret for the disaster, which resulted in the deaths of ten people, and gave the Lagos State Government assurance that its investigators would conduct a comprehensive investigation and produce safety recommendations.
He clarified, however, that it does not place responsibility on any particular party and instead offers safety advice on how future incidents of this nature might be avoided.
He said that the 45 well-trained investigators at the NSIB are working hard to look into severe accidents and occurrences involving rail and maritime transportation.
“We have 45 skilled investigators who have received quality training from institutions like the Singapore Academy and the United States. So we stick to what we’re good at. Investigations take time to complete.
Nonetheless, I don’t believe it will take longer because several of our detectives have previously had training in maritime and railroad investigation.
“We have made public every accident and significant incident that we have looked at in the past. Nothing is being hidden, but the fact is, nobody is to blame. You can find out why the accident occurred by looking at the causative and contributing elements that we have.”
The Director-General also wanted NSIB and LASEMA to work together on capacity building, training, and idea sharing.
During the NRC, Olateru also reaffirmed that the accident report will be released to the public shortly and said that the new NSIB Act 2022 had gone through the proper procedures before being approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and adopted.
In conclusion, he clarified that the goal of the new Act was to reduce all types of traffic accidents in the nation and increase the number of lives saved.
Source: The Guardian
