Section 66: Interpretation

In this Act -
"accident” means an investigable matter involving a transport vehicle where -
(a) a person dies or suffers serious injury as a result of an occurrence associated with the operation of the transport vehicle;
(b) the vehicle is destroyed or seriously damaged as a result of an occurrence associated with the operation of the transport vehicle; or
(c) any property is destroyed or seriously damaged as a result of an occurrence associated with the operation of the transport vehicle;
"AIB" means Accident Investigation Bureau established under section 29 of the Civil Aviation Act, Cap. Cl 3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004;
"aircraft occurrence" means any civil aircraft accident or serious incident as may be defined in the ICAO Annex 13 or any amendment thereto;
"Authority" Means the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority;
"Board" means the Governing Board established under section 7 of this Act;
"Bureau" means the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau established under section 3 of this Act;
"causes" means actions, omissions, events, conditions, or a combination thereof, which led to the transportation occurrence and the identification of causes does not imply the assignment of fault or the determination of administrative, civil or criminal liability;chairman" means Chairman of the Board of the Bureau;
"civil proceedings" means any proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria other than criminal proceedings;
"coroner" means any person empowered to hold inquests under the Coroners Law or any other related law;
"coronial inquiry" means a coronial inquiry, coronial investigation or coronial inquest under the Nigerian law;
"control area" means -
(a) the flight deck and recording systems of an aircraft,
(b) the bridge or a control room of a ship, and
(c) the cab of a locomotive;
"Director-General" means the Director-General, chief executive and accounting officer of the Bureau appointed under section 11 of this Act;
"employee" means any person employed by the Bureau;
"Federation" means the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"Fund" means the source of money that will be allocated to Bureau for its operations and maintenance;
"Government” includes the Government of the Federation, State, Local Government or any person who exercises power or authority on its behalf;
"Governor" means a Governor of any of the States of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"him" includes both male and female;
"incident" means an operational interruption, defect, fault or other irregular circumstance in a transportation vehicle that has or may have influenced or threatened transportation safety and that has not resulted in an accident;
"information" includes a record regardless of form and a copy of a record;
"International Agreement, Convention or Treaty" means a treaty or agreement whose parties are -
(a) Nigeria and a foreign country; or
(b) Nigeria and two or more foreign countries;
"Inspector of Railways" means the Inspector of Railways appointed under section 50 of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, Cap. N129, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004;
"investigation" means a process conducted for the purpose of preventing transportation occurrence which includes the gathering and analysis of information, the drawing of conclusions, including the determination of the cause or causes and, when appropriate, the making of safety recommendations;
"Investigator" means a person appointed as an Investigator of transportation occurrences by the Director-General of Bureau;
"Marine Casualty Investigation Committee" means the Committee established under section 49 of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act, 2007 to carry out -
(a) any marine accident, serious marine casualty and incident associated with the operation of a ship, excluding ships of war, or other ships not propelled by mechanical means, wooden ships of primitive build and pleasure yachts unless they are or will be crewed and carry more than 12 passengers for commercial purposes, and fixed offshore drilling units, which takes place between the time any person boards the ship, with the intention to sail until all such persons have disembarked, where a person is fatally or seriously injured, the ship sustains damage or structural failure or the ship is missing or is completely inaccessible, and
(b) any situation or condition that the Board of the Bureau has reasonable grounds to believe could, if left unattended, induce an accident or incident described in paragraph (a);
"Minister" means the Federal Minister responsible for aviation and to the extent of the authority given, any person authorised in that behalf by such Minister;
"NCAA" means the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority;
"NIMASA" mean Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency;
"on-board recording" (OBR) includes -
(a) the recording of sounds or images of persons in the control area of a transport vehicle,
(b) the recording made in order to comply with a law in force in any country,
(c) any part of the recording made at the time of the transportation occurrence of an immediately reportable matter that involved the transport vehicle, and
(d) at least one of the following -
(i) any part of the recording was made while the transport vehicle was on a constitutional journey, or was made incidentally to such a journey,
(ii) the recording was made in order to comply with Nigerian law,
(iii) at the time when the recording was made, the transport vehicle was owned or operated by a government agency in Nigeria,
(iv) the immediately reportable matter occurred when the transport vehicle was on a route ordinarily used by transport vehicles on constitutional journeys, or
(v) the immediately reportable matter also involved another transport vehicle that was on a constitutional journey, or was owned or operated by a government agency in Nigeria;
"operator" means any person, body or undertaking operating or proposing to operate any of the transport vehicles;
"premises" means an accident site or premises that is necessary to enter in order to get to an accident site;
"President" means the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"public service" means the public service of the Federation;
"report" means any report, safety action statement, safety recommendation, safety bulletin issued by the Bureau;
"rail vehicle” means a vehicle that operates on a railway, including a vehicle that does not have wheels;
"railway" includes all branches, extensions, sidings, yards, stations, depots, wharfs, equipment, stores, signals, control systems, railway bridges, tunnels and other property, railway-related structures and facilities, and works connected therewith;
"railway occurrence" means -
(a) any accident or incident associated with the operation of rolling stock on a railway, and
(b) any situation or condition that the Board has reasonable grounds to believe could, if left unattended, induce an accident or incident described in paragraph (a) above;
"safety action statement" means a statement -
(a) setting out any safety issues identified during the course of an investigation that should be addressed; or
(b) setting out any steps taken by persons to remedy safety issues identified during the course of an investigation;
"safety advisory notices or safety bulletins" means safety guidelines recommended by the Bureau;
"safety recommendation" means any proposal by the Bureau conducting the technical investigation, based on information derived from that investigation, made with the intention of preventing transportation occurrences;
"serious incident” means an incident involving circumstances indicating that an accident nearly occurred;
"site" in relation to transportation occurrence means any site associated with an accident -
(a) containing the transport vehicle or any of its wreckage,
(b) where there is an impact point associated with the accident, and
(c) containing that property or any of its wreckage, together with such area around the site as the Director-General determines to be reasonably necessary to facilitate the investigation of the accident and securing the site if the accident involved destruction or serious damage to property, other than the transport vehicle;
"State" means any of the States of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or a nation or territory considered as an organised political community under one government;
"statement" means an official account, record and statement of evidence and fact given by a person to an Investigator of the Bureau;
tracked vehicle" means a self-propelled vehicle that moves on tracks;
"transport or transportation" means the movement of humans, animals, or goods from one location to another by use of transportation vehicle;
"transportation occurrence" means an aviation, railway, marine or road occurrence;
"transport safety matters’5 means the occurrences as listed in section 43 of this Act; and
"vehicle "means any form of transportation that transports people, something or cargo, which includes aircraft, railed and tracked vehicles, motor vehicles, ships, buses, vans, lorries, trucks, trailers, etc.