President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the repositioning of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) to report directly to the Presidency.
This effectively removes the bureau from the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to the Presidency.
The presidential approval, conveyed through a State House correspondence dated March 5, 2026, and transmitted to the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development on March 11 for immediate implementation, also directs the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to amend the NSIB Establishment Act 2022 and forward the proposed changes to the National Assembly.
The move effectively removes the Bureau from the supervision of the aviation ministry and places it within a governance structure closer to the centre of national policy oversight.
Weekend Trust reports that the NSIB was created under the NSIB Establishment Act 2022, replacing the former Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), which previously handled only aviation accident investigations.
Following the establishment of the NSIB, the bureau’s investigation role was expanded to include probing into accidents and incidents in all modes of transportation.
With the NSIB taking shape as a multimodal accident investigation, there has been clamour to move the bureau from the Ministry of Aviation since its role now transcends the aviation industry.
The transition marked a significant shift in Nigeria’s transport safety philosophy. Rather than limiting accident investigation to the aviation sector, the new Bureau was mandated to investigate accidents across four major transport modes: aviation, marine, rail and tracked vehicle systems.
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