Airlines to get three months fuel supply at N480 per liter

Nigerian airlines are to get three months steady supply of aviation fuel at N480 per litres. This follows a meeting held on Monday comprising the airlines, Speaker, House of Representatives, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd, and the governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele.

The airlines had on Sunday threatened to shut down, complaining of the rising cost of the Jet A fuel and other issues affecting their operations.

Gbajabiamila, at the meeting, said it was agreed that the airline operators would nominate petroleum marketers who would get the product from the NNPC and sell directly to them.

“You will get allocation for the next three months through the companies that you have nominated. So that you will not come back and say Jet fuel is a particular amount and is being sold by NNPC because you nominated those people that are selling to you,” he said.

The speaker added that the airlines would be granted license to import their own fuel subsequently.

In his contribution, Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group managing director, said the corporation had been selling the product to the airlines at N460.

“It is our role to ensure we intervene. We did. We brought in products so that we can dampen the price. In March and April, we brought in cargo and made it available to the entire industry at N460. There is a build-up to that price. He said the only way to fix the price is to put a subsidy on adding that to sell for N500 in any circumstance, then somebody has to pay the difference.

“There is a limit to what the CBN can provide. We are constrained because we are not able to produce dollars because of the dearth of oil in the Niger Delta. This is then reality. So we do not have. That means customers must source for FX from alternative sources.”

On his part, Emeifile said providing forex to the airlines could pose as a constrain, citing crude theft in the Niger Delta and inability of the NNPC to meet its export target.

“We do not have FX to sell. It would be difficult for us to grant any concession. It means we would be taking a hit or we would be providing some sort of subsidy for the industry.”.