Domestic airlines under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) will shun imported Jet A1 and buy from Dangote Petrochemical Refinery, the Federal Government has said.
According to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, the move is expected to lead to a crash in air tickets in Nigeria.
“The Airline Operators of Nigeria just met. They have made a clear decision, and all of them will no longer buy imported fuel,” Keyamo said during an interview on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm, which aired on Tuesday.
Keyamo said the airline operators’s decision was to “support a local industry, Dangote Refinery. It is the decision of the Airline Operators of Nigeria with my push and blessing that they should only buy from Dangote Refinery, the Jet A1″.
Headwinds Of Oil Prices
The Federal Government confirmed that the sale of crude oil to the Dangote refinery and other refineries in naira would commence on October 1.
The policy aims to stabilise pump prices, potentially resulting in lower and more predictable fuel costs for consumers.
With transactions in naira rather than dollars, the pressure on foreign exchange reserves would ease, leading to the stabilization of the dollar-naira exchange rate and control of inflation.
The minister said the move would eliminate headwinds of oil prices in the international market.
“Yesterday it started the naira for crude purchase, it is going to be bought in naira, no dollar component. It will not be subjected to the vagaries of the international market or the headwinds of oil prices in the international market.
“It will be by our local currency so we can be clear as to the cost of it in naira and we will buy in naira. I am sure we are going to have access to cheaper jet A1 fuel,” he added.
