Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has said that the nation was at a crucial moment particularly with the attempted shutdown by the airline operators which amounts to a potential shutting down of the country.
Gbajabiamila, who stated this when the leadership of the House of Representatives on Monday took the bull by the horn as it moved decisively to resolve the issues that led Airlines Operators Association of Nigeria (AOAN) to threaten to shut down flight operations across the country, said the legislature cannot afford to watch such happen.
At a meeting that lasted over three hours at the National Assembly on Monday, the leadership of the House, led by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila secured the commitment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to, in the interim, make available six million litres of JetA1 (aviation fuel) available to the aviation fuel marketers chosen by the AOAN.
As part of the resolutions, it was agreed that as a long term solution, the airline operators must commence, as soon as possible, the process of securing a license for the importation of aviation fuel to avoid suspicion over the landing cost of the product and other associated logistic issues.
The Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority was also mandated to, as much as possible, grant waivers that do not touch on the security and safety of the country for importers of the products.
Stakeholders present at the meeting included the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Aviation, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NNPC, Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) as well as the AOAN, among others.
At the meeting which took off on a rocky note, Speaker Gbajabiamila warned that it was incumbent on the Chief Executive of agencies of government and the private sector to honour the invitation of the House on issues of national importance.
This happened after the representative of the governor of CBN was asked to excuse himself from the meeting by the Speaker, who stressed that the importance and sensitivity of the meeting required the presence of the CBN Governor due to the importance of the issues at stake.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who eventually walked into the meeting about 15 minutes later, gave reasons why he had to be represented before his eventual arrival.
Gbajabiamila said the presence of the CBN Governor at the meeting is very important because his role is very critical to the resolution of this issue.
The Speaker specifically noted that certain resolutions that included the sale of aviation fuel at N500 per litre and the granting of aviation fuel import license to the operators was arrived at during the last meeting with the stakeholders while requesting an update on the implementation of the resolution.
The leadership of the House also inquired from the NNPC about the status of the 25,000 tons of ATK approved for the airlines as a palliative in addition to the availability of the product to the airlines for about three months.
Also, the leadership opined that functional refineries should be able to address some of the challenges being faced while asking for the status of the refineries undergoing renovation.
Responding, the NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), Mele Kyari assured that the three months supply of Jet A1 to the chosen marketers by the AOAN would be guaranteed while emphasizing that the price of the product cannot however be ascertained because it is globally market-driven.
Kyari said; “We will make appropriate allocations to the three marketers chosen by the operators and the other”.
Also speaking, the CBN Governor, Emefiele also noted that though the apex bank has no control over the flow of the dollar, he however assured that no operator would be denied facilities by the banks as long as they are creditworthy.
While appreciating all the stakeholders for the efforts put in at resolving the issue, Gbajabiamila commended the airline operators for being nationalistic in calling off the strike and expressed the hope that the outcome of the meeting will usher in a lasting solution to the challenges of Jet A1 bearing in mind that there is a laissez-faire economy of demand and supply.
