The Federal Government has said that even though it is working tirelessly, there is no immediate solution to the crisis in the country’s aviation sector.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, stated that the government was aware of the challenges, but could not tell when the solutions to the crisis would yield result as the issue is global.
The country’s aviation sector has been battling challenges posed by the scarcity and hike in price of JetA1, commonly called aviation fuel, a situation that has led to increase in airfares, route cuts and general flight disruptions.
Reacting to the crisis in the sector at a meeting with officials of the Airline Operators of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday, the minister said the situation though global, was aggravated in Nigeria because we don’t produce the product 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.
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.”
He, however, noted that this would not happen soon.
“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.
