Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has assured members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) of three months supply of aviation fuel (Jet A1).
This assurance was given at a meeting convened on Monday by the leadership of the House of Representatives in Abuja with key stakeholders in the nation’s economy in attendance.
Present at the gathering were the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Aviation, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NNPC, Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) as well as AON, among others.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, disclosed that about 6 million litres of aviation fuel would be made available to the marketers chosen by the local airline operators.
However, he emphasised that the price of the product cannot be guaranteed because it is globally market-driven, urging them to begin the process of obtaining a licence to import the product into the country.
“We will make appropriate allocations to the three marketers chosen by the operators and the other,” Mr Kyari said.
During the meeting, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, said the nation was at a crucial moment as the shutdown by the airline operators amounts to a potential shutting down of the country, emphasising that, “We cannot sit here and watch this happen.”
The Speaker recalled that certain resolutions that included the sale of aviation fuel at N500 per litre and the granting of aviation fuel import license to the operators were arrived at during the last meeting with the stakeholders while requesting an update on the implementation of the resolution as well as the refineries undergoing renovation.
“Rounding up on a positive note, I appreciate the airline operators for being nationalistic in calling off the strike as I hope that the outcome of this meeting will usher in a lasting solution to these challenges of Jet A1 bearing in mind that there is a laissez-faire economy of demand and supply,” Mr Gbajabiamila said.
As part of the resolutions, the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority was mandated to, as much as possible, grant waivers that do not touch on the security and safety of the country for importers of the products, while the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, assured that no operator would be denied facilities by the banks as long as they are creditworthy, though he stressed that the apex bank has no control over the flow of the dollar.
