Airlines in Nigeria to shut down operations over aviation fuel scarcity

Without a relief in three days, airlines operating in Nigeria said on Monday they might shut down over the skyrocketing cost and scarcity of aviation fuel.

Speaking on behalf of airline operators, the Chief Executive Officer of Airpeace, Allen Onyema, disclosed that airlines are buying aviation fuel at N670 per litre from the normal price of 190, adding that they can no longer afford the product.

Onyema told a meeting of the House Committee investigating the scarcity and high cost of aviation fuel that if they must continue to operate, an average Nigerian will pay N120,000 for an economy class ticket.

He said: “We have only three more days, all airlines in Nigeria will shut down. We are not threatening this country, it is a fact.

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”I have the mandate of all airlines to demand that airlines begin importation of fuel. if we can buy planes of millions of dollars, we can also import fuel ourselves.

“Let NNPC give airlines licenses, we want to import ourselves.”

In their presentation, the oil markers blamed the high dollar rate for the high cost of fuel.

However, Persecondnews gathered that the representatives of the oil marketers could not give an answer when asked by the Deputy Speaker of the House, who chaired the committee, of how much they purchased the dollar and from which banks.

On his part, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Ltd, Malam Mele Kyari, revealed that at the moment about 19 oil companies still have in their stock 88 million litres of aviation fuel.