Minister Recommits To Tackling Aviation Needs

The Minister of State
for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, says the Federal Government is coming up with some steps to tackle challenges in the aviation industry,
Sirika, who made this known during a stakeholders meeting in Abuja, said that his ministry’s solution was working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Budget and National Planning and the Ministry of Finance to include airlines in priority list of foreign exchange allocation.
“Due to the nature of aviation, a lot of transactions in the business are done with foreign exchange which is currently a problem and challenge here.
“Aircraft acquisition, purchase of spare parts, maintenance and training are all paid for in foreign currency, however, Nigeria airlines sell their tickets in naira and have to pay for the services enumerated above in foreign change,” he said.
The honourable minister highlighted another priority challenge in the sector as the cost of ‘Jet A1 (aviation fuel), which he said had been evident over the years that the product constitutes a substantial operational cost to the airlines.
He further stated that the situation was made worse as the country currently imports the product 100% with the supply inconsistency.
Sirika said that arrangements have already reached an advanced stage to commence the production of Jet A1 Aviation fuel in Nigeria in order to bring down the cost and regulate supply. Something that most stakeholders have clamoured for. One other priority area that was discussed at the meeting was safety and security at airports, sequel to series of reports on global events.