Aviation Minister begs Buhari to direct CBN for forex to Import Jet1 fuel

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide foreign exchange for the importation of Jet A1 fuel.

According to the minister, who spoke at the commissioning of a new terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport said Airline operators are suffering and there is a need to help.

Sirika said, “Aviation business suffers from issues of foreign exchange by local and foreign airlines and their inability to repatriate blocked funds. Nigeria currently holds $283m worth of foreign airlines funds in the country.

“I will like to humbly ask for the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the directives of Mr President Muhammadu Buhari, to prioritise access to foreign exchange for all carriers both local and foreign and to work out mechanisms to clear the existing backlog and urgently prevent the subsequent buildup for the global economy.

“Mr President is aware of the recent chaos in the sector caused by lack of Jet A1 fuel. Flights were duly delayed or cancelled unpleasantly.

“I wish to use this medium to humbly request Mr president to direct the NNPC to import Jet A1 in good quantity and device means to sustain supply as well as directing the central bank to allocate foregn exchange for the major marketers to sustain the supply.”

Read also: LongRead… Nigeria Airways: Recalling Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika’s voyage to nowhere!

On Monday last week, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari announced that the oil marketers have agreed on an interim arrangement that will enable them to fix the price of aviation fuel at N500 per litre as against N670 per litre.

He said, “We know this is a very difficult situation. We know that once aviation fuel increases, prices of flight tickets will certainly increase and this can surely cost pain for Nigerians.

“That is why we are working with you to ensure that those pains are minimized to the barest minimum and one of the elements is the pricing of aviation fuel.”

The aviation minister however believes allowing airline operators to import will go a long way to solve the aviation fuel crisis.

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