Relief may soon come the way of airline oprators and air travelers as the leadership of House of Representatives waded into the prevailing aviation fuel crisis that is almost crippling air travel in the country.
At its plenary session on Wednesday, the House resolved to summon the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) Mele Kyari, Oil marketers, and Airline Operators of Nigeria, (AON) for meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Ahmed Idris Wase and the Chairmen of of Committees on Aviation, Petroleum Upstream and Downstream for a meeting on Thursday to seek solution to the crisis.
The development was sequel to a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Honourable Nnolim Nnaji, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation.
The motion was tittled: “Urgent Need To Investigate / intervene on The Sudden Scarcity And High Cost Of Aviation Fuel Which Has Created An Existential Threat To Airline Operations And Requires Immediate Intervention By The Federal Government.”
Presenting the motion before the House during the plennary on Wednesday, Honourable Nnaji observed that the current crisis in Eastern Europe has created so much global tension and has raised the cost of crude oil to over $125.
He further noted that the situation has been worsened by the fact that, “Nigeria imports Jet-A1, ( aviation fuel) used by airlines for their flight operations and it’s astronomical hike can impede on airlines’ services”.
Honourable Nnaji equally disclosed that the product which was sold for N190 a litre in 2021 had risen to above N600 a litre, adding , ” to make matter worse, the oil marketers are alleged to be demanding for upfront cash payments from the airlines”.
The Aviation Committee Chairman also note that if urgent steps were not immediately taken to ameliorate the situation, airlines and passengers would continue to suffer several consequential economic and travel crises that might lead to total shutdown of air transport services.
It’s a good action taken by d Lower chamber,I pray normalcy will return back to the aviation sector.