The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has assured that the federal government was doing everything possible to tackle the scarcity of Aviation fuel also known as Jet A1.
Kachickwu, who disclosed this on Thursday while speaking to aviation correspondents at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, said the sector has being privatised and the production of Jet A1 was entirely in the hands of the private sector, adding that the federal government has been trying to work with them to douse the rousing tension.
He disclosed that in the short term he has been trying to liaise with countries where there is immediate availability of the product and on the long term they are working on repairing the Jet A1 pump producing in the refineries.
He said “Everyone us, including the newly sworn in General Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC), are doing our best to find a short-term solution to this problem before looking at the systemic problem and how it as affected the private sector to provide the aviation fuel.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, however, appealed to users, airline operators, travellers for the scarcity of the aviation fuel, blaming the scarcity not on the ministry of Petroleum, but also on the scarcity of Foreign exchange at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He said “the government was doing all it could to address the problem, and the Minister of state Petroleum was making every effort and his also doing certain negotiations to ensure that the product is available for our use. The CBN, Ministry of Petroleum is doing is best and we at the ministry of Aviation are doing our best on what affect us and I will address you in due course.” – Guardian.
