Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation, has stated that the Federal Government (FG) cannot immediately address the alarming fuel prices challenging airline operators in the country.
During a meeting with officials of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) in Abuja, Sirika said even though the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is aware of the alarming aviation fuel prices issue, it cannot immediately address it.
“Energy crises are real and it is global. Today there is an 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,” Sirika said as he revealed the genesis of the aviation fuel prices increment.
While noting that the government has so far made conscious efforts in addressing the challenge, Sirika promised that more would be done to ensure that airline operators would enjoy doing business in the country.
“As we speak, the government is in the process of finding a permanent solution to this issue,” Sirika stated.
Outlining some of 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 the supply of the product.”
When asked how soon the solutions would be made, Sirika responded by saying he “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.”
Aviation fuel alarming prices
For some months now, airline operators in the country have been faced with a myriad of challenges, particularly the aviation fuel prices, which had gone by more than 300% since January 2022.
BizWatch Nigeria understands that within a period of five months, aviation fuel prices jumped from below N300 per litre to over N800 per litre, causing an increase in airfares.
