Aviation Fuel Scarcity Will End Soon - SIRIKA

 Minister of State Aviation, Sen Hadi Sirika, has assured air travelers of Government’s commitment to ending the aviation  fuel (Jet A1) scarcity facing  the nation’s aviation industry to ensure a hitch-free yuletide.

Briefing newsmen on Monday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in  Abuja, Sirika disclosed that measures had been put in place to ensure availability of the product.

According to the Minister, the scarcity was occasioned by the fact that the country does not produce JetA1 locally, adding that the scarcity of foreign exchange had made the importation of the product difficult.

He disclosed that the ministry was collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make it easy for importers to bring in the product in the short term.

He explained that the long term plan was that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were working tirelessly to commence the refining of the product locally.

He however appealed to the traveling public to be patient with the situation as government was doing everything possible to address it.

“The CBN has assured us that they would do the best they can to make the Forex available for our people especially in this festive time and so also NNPC.

“I visited NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources three times each in the course of the last eight months and they assured us that they would start refining Jet A1 in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.”

According to the Minister,  “ The challenge is to make this JetA1 available in the country, and this is to assure the general public that we are doing the best that we can to ensure that the product is available within the country.”

“The government is not unaware, we are doing our best as we crave your patience to understand the situation and also to plead with you that it will be short term,’’ he said.

On the recent congestion at the nation's airports especially in Lagos and Abuja, the Minister said it was caused by cancellation of flights due to the non-availability of fuel.

He also justified government decision to concession some of the nation’s airports by saying that the airport as they are today are no longer robust enough for the growing passenger in our country.