Aviation experts urge FG to allow local airlines import Jet-A1

• Lawmakers want govt to hand over moribund refineries to IOCs

Some aviation experts have urged the Federal Government to grant operational licences to airline operators to import Jet-A fuel, with a view to reducing the current price hike of the product.

The experts spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, yesterday. Airline operators at the National Assembly had demanded operational licences from government to begin importation of fuel, following scarcity of the product in airports across the country.

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had also threatened to shut down operations on Friday, if government fails to ensure marketers reduced the price.

President, Aviation Roundtable (ART), Dr. Gabriel Olowo, said it would not be out of place for domestic airline operators to seek licences for importation of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK).

He said there was need for government to give them the licence, following lack of confidence, poor performance and high pricing from the current monopoly source.

He said: “This same move occurred in the days of Chachangi, ADC, Bellview and Sosoliso Airlines, and it will work, if there is no Judas among them. Secondly, the cost benefit analysis of doing so must be critically analysed before concluding.

“The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) already has an operational working model on fuelling, that is working very well. Perhaps that option should be exploited.
ALSO, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd) urged the airlines to ask National Assembly committees why the pipeline that supplied fuel from Ejigbo to the Murtala Muhammed Airport has not been repaired since 1992, 30 years after it ruptured.

Ojikutu, Managing Director of Centurion Security Services, argued that trucking of fuel is a means through which politicians drain the system.

MEANWHILE, House of Representatives, yesterday, urged the Federal Government to hand over the nation’s moribund refineries to International Oil Companies (IOCs) and other competent private organisations operating in the country.

The lawmakers noted that the measure would resuscitate the facilities, create jobs and end fuel scarcity. This was sequel to adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by a lawmaker, Awaji-Inombek Abiante, who called on President Muhammadu Buhari to save Nigerians from the recurring hardship of petroleum products scarcity across the federation.