EFFICACY OF ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION AS THE LEGAL MACHINERY FOR COMBATING AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Aviation accidents constitute one of the threats to aviation safety in Nigeria. Apart from the resultant loss of lives which creates serious vacuums, both in the families of the victims and the aviation industry, and loss of property, aviation accidents have also created fear in the citizenry about the safety and reliability of travelling by air. It is against the backdrop of the foregoing that every endeavour is made to ensure that aviation accidents are combated. Investigation of accidents is the legal machinery used by member states to the Chicago Convention to confront the menace of aviation accidents. Through investigation, the causes of, and contributory factors to an accident are determined in order to put in place the necessary machinery to avoid future accidents. Using doctrinal research method, this article examined the efficacy of accident investigation as the legal machinery for combating aviation accidents in Nigeria. The article found that the utility of accidents investigation to the improvement and enhancement of aviation safety in Nigeria is whittled down by the legal regime regulating it which is skewed in such a way as to provoke needles legal debate, and strenuous route to justice administration. The article recommended the amendment of relevant provisions of Nigerian legal instruments. Specifically, the article recommended inter alia that accident investigation reports should be admissible in Nigerian Courts as it is in other jurisdictions.