The Federal Government has declared that there are no immediate solutions to the current crisis rocking Nigeria’s aviation sector as the cause of the major challenge in the industry is a global issue.
Although the government said it was making efforts to address the challenges, it stressed that it could not tell when the solutions to the crisis would materialize.
Note that domestic airlines in Nigeria have been faced with a stiff challenge posed by the hike in the price of aviation fuel, popularly called JetA1.
The cost of the commodity has jumped from less than N300/liter to over N800/liter within about five months.
Reacting to the crisis in the sector at a meeting with officials of the Airline Operators of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, stated that the government was aware of the challenges, but noted that there was no immediate solution to the concerns currently.
He said, “Energy crises are real and it is global. Today there is an aviation fuel problem all over the world. From America to New Zealand. It is aggravating in Nigeria because we don’t produce the product.
“It is aggravated also because the foreign exchange is scarce in Nigeria and the source of earning the foreign exchange has also dwindled.
“As we speak, the government is in the process of finding a permanent solution to this issue,” Sirika stated.
