We have a responsibility to report this kind of serious incident to ICAO. We cannot fulfil our own obligation because this incident occurrence has not been reported to us officially by the operator.
I have in contact with my counterpart in the US, Mr. Dennis Jones, MD of NTSB. He agreed with me and he will make sure that Delta do the needful. So, we are expecting.
Let me congratulate you on your one year in office. I don’t want the issue to overshadow what you have done for the agency, since the logjam, have you been able to access to the aircraft?
No.
Don’t they want you to go near the aircraft?
When you have this kind of thing, we take possession of the aircraft and nobody goes near it. The aircraft is under safety investigation. That is what is required by law but until they make a formal report, then we are expecting them. I was made to understand they have appointed two investigators to work with us and they should be arriving this afternoon, I was made to understand. US NTSB notified us that Delta has appointed two investigators to join us and NTSB is nominating one person. Their rep too will be joining to assist us on this investigation.
Is the NCAA aware, have you reported to the NCAA?
We don’t report to NCAA. The way it works is, NAMA should report to AIB and notify the NCAA.
Conflict that goes on between NCAA and AIB during conflicts
Let me clear the air on this. May be in the past. I can tell you categorically that there is no ambiguity in what we do or competition between AIB and NCAA. It is clear that everything we do in aviation is guided by regulation and it is clear that when it is a minor incident, it is investigated by NCAA. If it is a serious incident or accident, that falls under the purview of AIB to investigate. NCAA knows that and there is no conflict about that. We are the only agency of government that can actually investigate NCAA when there is an accident. There is no competition or rivalry. For your information, I was notified by the DG of NCAA of the incident.
This afternoon, we got information that their engineers want to work on the aeroplane and we made it clear to them that it is a no no. We told them that nobody should go near the aircraft. The best we can do is to safeguard it. Security people are guarding the aircraft.
Don’t you think there is a drama here
I have insisted that we must interview the crew. We need to know what happened. I got a call too that they want to travel and told them they cannot leave. We have a responsibility. They are still in Nigeria. I have made it clear to them, they cannot go until we take their statement. We have an obligation under the law and we are here to defend that obligation. What Delta has done is to satisfy their own regulations and laws by reporting to the NTSB failing to respect our own law and regulations.
