The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Tuesday, said there is no immediate solution to the current crisis rocking Nigeria’s aviation sector as the cause of the major challenge in the industry is a global issue.
The Federal Government stated that it was making efforts to address the challenges, it stressed that it could not tell when the solutions to the crisis would materialise.
Domestic airlines in Nigeria have been faced with a challenge posed by the hike in the price of aviation fuel, popularly called JetA1.
Reacting to the crisis in the sector at a meeting with officials of the Airline Operators of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday, stated that the government was aware of the challenges, but noted that there was no immediate solution to the concerns currently.
He said, “Energy crises is real and it is global. Today there is aviation fuel problem all over the world. From America to New Zealand. It is aggravating in Nigeria because we don’t produce the product.
“It is aggravated also because the foreign exchange is scarce in Nigeria and the source of earning the foreign exchange has also has dwindled”.
He said the Federal Government had in the past sourced 10,000 metric tonnes of aviation fuel for domestic airlines, adding that the government was wiling to do more.
“As we speak, the government is in the process of finding a permanent solution to this issue,” Sirika stated.
Outlining some of the the solutions, the minister said it would include, “importation of the product at the appropriate price, accelerating the refurbishment of our refineries and also wait for the coming on stream of Dangote Refinery to boost supply of the product.”
“So when you ask how soon, I wouldn’t know when Dangote will come on stream, I wouldn’t know how soon the refineries will be fixed. I wouldn’t know when imports would become sufficient. But the government is working towards all these to happen,” Sirika stated.
The minister said he would meet with relevant stakeholders including the Central Bank of Nigeria so that the airlines could access forex at the official rate rather than the black market price.