Commissioner, Accident Investigation Buerau (AIB) Akin Olateru, has said, that the Nigerian aviation industry was viable and even made appreciable contribution of at least $1.7 billion and generated 341,000 direct jobs to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the advent of COVID-19 pandemic, which crippled the world’s economy.
Olateru also called for effective collaboration between air transport and tourism industry, saying the two sectors needed each other to thrive and developed the nation’s economy.
Presenting a paper: ‘Best Practices in Civil Aircraft Accident Prevention and Investigation for Sustainable Development of the Transportation and Tourism Industry,’ at the 2020 National Tourism and Transportation Summit and Expo 2020, held in Abuja on Monday, Olateru who was
represented by Capt Dayyabu Danraka, Director of Operations noted that the pandemic setback the country’s aviation industry.
According to him, the $1.7 billion and 241,000 figures were presented by the International Air Transport Association IATA), recently.
Olateru, further described air accident and serious incident investigation and timely release of safety reports as catalyst for sustainable development in the air transportation and tourism industry in the country.
Olateru insisted that air transport was part of a broader travel and tourism sector, widely recognised as world largest industry.
He emphasised that the industry, according to the World Bank Group, was an important enabler to achieving economic growth and development.
Olateru added that air transport in addition to facilitate integration into global economy and provide vital connectivity on a national, regional and international scale, also help to generate trade, promote tourism and create job opportunities.
He stated that air transport and tourism complement each other, pointing out that tourism depends on transportation to facilitate the movement of visitors, while transportation industry depends on tourism to generate revenues for its services.
The AIB boss observed that, no matter what transport mode is, accident always erode the public’s confidence in the safety of the transport system, explaining that accident could lead to injury or death and could cause environmental and economic disaster.