Aviation sector qualifies for targeted financing —LCCI

By Bisi Adewumi

Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry, LCCI has called on the government for a targeted financing efforts to save the aviation sector.

The Director General, LCCI , Dr. Chinyere Almona, FCA in a statement released urged the government to take immediate steps toward resolving the crises in the aviation sector. In her words, air transportation is considered to be one of the safest channels considering the despicable level of insecurity in the country, resolving the continued fuel crises facing the safest transport channel is critical for the business community.

According to Almona, the crises in Nigeria’s aviation industry has reached a problematic level. The aviation fuel price has jumped from #300/litre to over #800 within five months, which has led to unprecedented increase in airfares. There are incessant delays in flight and some others times, flights are cancelled.

The DG expressed worries even as the Federal Government has declared that there is no immediate solutions to the crises as the problem is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, but a global issue.

In the recent time, the umbrella body for domestic airlines in the country, Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, notified air transport passengers that the sector was experiencing a significant crisis owing to scarcity of aviation fuel, Jet-A1. Some airlines have shut down, while some other ones operate epileptic services.

With the rising insecurity that bedevilled our roads transport system, a safer option is air transportation.

She went further to say that this portends challenges around the movement of goods and business conduct across locations, pointing out that the government could not afford to allow this sector to suffer from these crises.

The DG mentioned that the intervention of the National Assembly along side the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN that saw the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC supply Jet-A1 at a discounted price of #480/litre has not yielded the desired result.

The chamber expressed concerns over the aviation crises because of the systematic importance of air travel for the conduct of trade and commerce across boarders.

Apart from tackling terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers who have taken over major highways in the country, she went on , “The government must immediately consider involving the CBN and the NNPC in making Forex available for aviation fuel imports. However, the more sustainable solution would be refining Jet-A1 fuel four our local consumption,” she concluded.