The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has disclosed that the high cost of aviation fuel, popularly known as Jet A1 fuel, is a global crisis affecting countries like America, New Zealand and other developed nations, and not a peculiar situation to Nigeria.
Speaking on Tuesday while playing host to members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) in Abuja, Sirika maintained that the crises in the aviation sector are beyond the industry’s control, stating that there was no immediate solution.
The Minister regretted that there was no short term solution because of the variables involved especially that it is a global problem.
According to him, “Energy crisis is real and it is global. Today there are aviation fuel problems 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 because the source of earning the foreign exchange also has dwindled.”
He stated that the Federal Government had in the past sourced 10,000 metric tonnes of aviation fuel for the airlines. “As we speak, the government is in the process of finding a permanent solution to this issue.”
In addressing some of the challenges facing the sector, Sirika said some of the solutions include “importation of the product at 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 filled. I wouldn’t know when imports would become sufficient. But the government is working towards all these to happen,” the Minister reaffirmed.
On his part, the President of AON, Alh. Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, explained that the aviation fuel crises began from N180 per litre and is now at N1,000 per litre.
He lamented that the forex crisis is a huge burden on the industry. “The rate at which the dollar is escalating now is very alarming. Every day, a difference between N10 and N15 is added at the parallel market. Last week Monday, it was N610 but today, it is N670 to one dollar,” he said.
Sarina called on the Minister to intervene and take more drastic steps in addressing the crisis facing the aviation sector.
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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”
He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.
“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.
According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”
“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.
The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”
“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.
“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.
“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.
Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.
“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.
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