Crisis In Aviation Sector As Airlines Plan Operation Shutdown Due To Fuel Scarcity
…NNPC to grant operators license to import aviation fuel
…Sector becoming porous, indulging in blame game — President, NATCA
…FG spoon-feeding domestic airline operators — Orjikutu
Abimbola Abatta, Ariemu Ogaga, Denis Matthew
The crisis in the country’s aviation sector has worsened following the announcement that airlines would, on Thursday, shut operations over fuel scarcity.
CEO of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, who spoke on behalf of the operators on Monday, said airline operators had only three more days to fly due to the high cost of aviation fuel.
Speaking during a public hearing by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the scarcity of aviation fuel in Abuja, Onyema slammed aviation fuel marketers for not speaking the truth about the actual landing cost of aviation fuel.
According to him, if drastic measures were not taken, the least air ticket would go for as high as N120,000.
He urged the House of Reps to give operators of airlines the license to import aviation fuel, saying this would reduce unnecessary burden on the citizenry.
He said, “If we continue this way, the least ticket you will have is about N120,000. And the marketers have refused to tell us how much is the unit cost of their acquisition.
“What we are asking from the government is to give us the right to import aviation fuel. What others use in insuring one plane is what we use in insuring three planes in Nigeria, so the Nigeria airline is dead on arrival.”
In reaction to this, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps, Hon. Ahmed Wase, said the committee was “not willing to compromise what is in the interest of our country.”
Wase berated the marketers’ attempt to cover up some facts, adding that their analysis are not correct based on the facts at the committee’s disposal.
He also questioned why some government agencies fail to tell the truth about the scarcity and the high cost of aviation fuel, saying, “We should be seen to protect the interest of Nigeria and not otherwise.”
However, he said the committee would ensure that the right thing is done in the interest of the country, adding that the basic tenet of governance remains the welfare of the people.
Also speaking, the Minority leader of the House, Toby Okechukwu, raised questions on what determined the marketers’ prices and why they were hoarding the product.
According to Okechukwu, such actions by marketers are bringing a lot of dysfunction to the country’s economy.
“If we are saying that the landing cost of aviation fuel is N450 from Central Bank of Nigeria, who approved it?” he said.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director for Distribution System for Storage and Retailing Infrastructure in the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, Mr Ugbugo Ukoha, said that Nigeria has an excess supply of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK).
Ukoha noted that the country has sufficient products that could go round.
He, however, added that scarcity and high cost remain the marketers’ challenge.
In addition, the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd, Malam Mele Kyari, said NNPC would consider granting licenses to operators of airline to import aviation fuel.
Kyari also agreed that aviation fuel would now be sold at N500 per litre as opposed to the current N670 per litre.
Sector becoming porous, indulging in blame game — President, NATCA
Speaking on the threat to shutdown airline operations, the President of Nigeria Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), Comrade Abayomi Agoro said the aviation sector is becoming porous as everybody is trading blames.
“The airlines operators have been increasing the airfares for long time now because of the increase in Jet A1. They (operators) are in business so withdrawal of operations or increasing the air tickets lies on their oars,” he said.
According to him, the poor masses are always at the receiving end because they cannot buy air tickets and the roads are not safer due to insecurity situation.
“There’s no need going to National Assembly. They (operators) have been fixing prices for they air tickets, resulting to drastic drop in air passengers. They should continue to increase the tickets; it will soon bounce back to them.”
He stressed, “I just returned from an abroad trip with effective aviation policies in Kenya airway and other African countries. But here in Nigeria, the cartels have hijacked the aviation sector, making it porous.”
Comrade Agoro, however, called on the Government to rise above the situation by calling stakeholders to fine-tune solutions that will benefit both the operators and air passengers.
FG spoon-feeding domestic airline operators — Orjikutu
Reacting to the development, an Aviation Expert and Group Captain (Rtd), John Orjikutu, said the federal government has been spoon-feeding domestic airline operators.
This is even as he hinted that the Nigerian Aviation sector cannot collapse because 70 per cent of earnings come from foreign airlines.
Orjikutu, however, noted that domestic airlines should down tools if they cannot continue instead of resorting to threats.
He also faulted the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for the woes facing the sector.
He said, “If NCAA has been adequate in its responsibility, it would have advised operators that couldn’t survive to step aside.
“The government has been spoon-feeding domestic operators in Nigeria.
“Aviation is a global market; the money is global. If you are are selling air ticket below $100, how can you survive?
“Except we look inward to know how we get here, the situation will keep deteriorating.
“The industry cannot collapse. How much are domestic operators contributing to Nation’s revenue? The foreign airlines contribute more than 70 per cent to the Country’s aviation sector.”
He further added that most Nigerian airline operators do not have business plans.
In his words, “They have been living, surviving on government’s intervention, subsidy for so long which cannot be sustained. They should down their tools if they cannot survive without such interventions.
“In 2012, Federal Government gave domestic airliners over N200billion intervention, also handed them intervention during the COVID-19 period.
“Today where would such intervention come from? Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is there and yet to be attended to. Most flyers are using federal government’s money, what are the earnings of government aviation agencies?”
Source: nigeriannewsdirect
