The price of Jet A1, otherwise known as aviation fuel in the local parlance, jumped to over N300 per litre in Nigeria, especially in the Northern part of the country.
The product however still sells at N240 and N250 per litre in Lagos, depending on the independent marketer an airline is purchasing from.
The skyrocketing price of the product has led to some of the airlines especially the foreign ones purchasing Jet A1 outside the country, most especially in neighbouring Ghana where the product is cheaper and more available.
A source close to one of the airlines, confided in INDEPENDENT that the product is sold at N300 and N320 per litre in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Yola, Ilorin, Minna and a few states in the North, while the product goes for N240 and N250 in Lagos.
Aviation fuel like diesel and kerosene has been deregulated by the Federal Government about 10 years ago, which enable marketers to set their prices for the product.
Just a few months ago, a litre of the product went for about N250 in the north, while it sold for N220 and N230 in Lagos.
About three years ago, a litre of Jet A1 went for N120 in the local market, implying that the cost has risen by over 100 per cent in Lagos since 2016.
In oil-rich Saudi Arabia, for instance, local carriers still pay 20 cents per litre, while foreign airlines pay 41 cents in the past five years.
Mr. Obi Mbanuzuo, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Dana Air in an interview with our correspondent, confirmed the high price of the product in the local market.
Mbanuzuo lamented that the failure of the government to refine the product in the country contributed to its skyrocketing price.
He also confirmed that the product is sold for N240 and N250 per litre in Lagos, while it’s above N300 per litre outside the state, including the northern states.
He said: “The first problem we have with aviation fuel is that it is not refined in the country. So, there are at times you have to go out because it is imported. Cargo comes in and if there is a hiccup in that process, there will be a challenge.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a pipeline anywhere in the country again for aviation fuel. All we have has gone bad. So, we have to rely on trucks. Secondly, the value chain is too prone to disruption. A litre of fuel goes as high as N240 to N250 in Lagos, while it goes up to over N300 outside Lagos because the fuel goes to the North and other parts of the country by road.”
Besides, a staff of one major oil marketers confirmed the price jump to our correspondents.
The source, however, said that the fluctuating rate of naira against the dollar was responsible for the recent increase in the price of the product.
Besides, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), the Managing Director of Centurion Securities in a recent interview with Daily Independent, has blamed oil marketers of insincerity for the scarcity of the product.
Ojikutu noted that the products had been deregulated over the years by the government and still wondered why they would be scarce in the country.
He also restated that repairs could be made to the pipelines that bridge fuel from Ejigbo and Mosimi to Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos that consumes 70 per cent of the aviation fuel, suggesting that airlines could do this since the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was reluctant to do it.
He said, “Just as the marketers are not sincere, the operators too are equally guilty. Ask yourself, why is there no PMS scarcity and there is a scarcity of kerosene and jet-A1 even when the government has given an open door to whosoever wants to import?”
