Banjul Accord Group investigative Agency (BAGAIA) has planned to create an independent accident investigative body in The Gambia and Sierra Leone in the first quarter of 2021.
The group comprises West African neighbours that include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal working towards safer skies.
The decision to establish the body in the two countries was reached at separate meetings with the two countries.
Commissioner, BAGAIA, Engr. Charles Erhueh, said the meeting deliberated issues like the signing of a project document – Management Service Agreement (MSA), the Accident Investigation Group (AIG) set up (with advice from Nigeria) and the need to offset outstanding subscription to BAGAIA commission.
In The Gambia, the BAGAIA Commissioner and his team met with the representative of the Minister, Mr. Mod K. Ceesay where he sought the MSA for legal backing of ICAO-Technical Cooperation Bureau (TCB) services to BAGAIA.
The commissioner noted that the Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) used to be a department in the Ministry of Aviation, noting that it has now become a world-class investigation body.