By Goodluck Ikiebe in Abuja.
Airline operators in Nigeria have warned that airlines would shut down operations in the next three days, if their demand for licences from the federal government to begin importation of fuel is ignored.
The demands followed scarcity of aviation fuel which has reached pitch level .
The Chairman of Airpeace, Mr Allen Onyema, who stated this on Monday in Abuja, during a meeting with NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, oil marketers and airline operators, warned that Airlines in the country would shut down operations over lack of Aviation fuel.
Onyema explained that the statement was not a threat but the fact on ground, saying;
‘We have only three more days, all airlines in Nigeria will shut down. We are not threatening this country, it is a fact”, he said.
Onyema, who stated he was mandated by all airlines operating in the country to demand for licences of importation of fuel, said if operators could use millions of dollars to invest in planes, they have the capacity to import fuel by themselves.
”I have the mandate of all airlines to demand that Airlines begin importation of fuel, if we can buy planes of millions of dollars, we can also import fuel ourselves. Let NNPC give Airlines licenses, we want to import ourselves,” he added.
Our Correspondent reports that the prevailing scarcity of fuel in the country, for more than one month, has grounded businesses to a halt while transport fares, goods and services are randomly hiked thereby putting untold pressure and hardship on Nigerians.
