President Bola Tinubu has approved debt relief for airline operators to cushion the impact of the rising operational costs in Nigeria’s aviation sector.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, disclosed this on Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with airline operators and stakeholders following the looming threat of a nationwide strike over the sharp hike in Jet A1 fuel prices.
Keyamo said the first request the operators presented to President Bola Tinubu, which the president has agreed to consider and grant, is “a generous discount” on debts owed by airlines to aviation agencies such as the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
“The first request that he will consider - he will consider and grant - is a generous discount on the debts the airlines are owing the aviation agencies, NAMA, FAAN, NCAA, and so on and so forth,” Keyamo said.
He added that President Tinubu will personally determine and disclose the percentage of the waiver on Thursday.
“Mr. President specifically told me not to wait for a council memo," said Keyamo.
"I should bring the letter to him as early as possible tomorrow. The percentage of discounts and all that Mr. President would decide. He’s so, so concerned about what is happening.”
Keyamo also said the president approved the creation of a committee to address concerns surrounding multiple government taxes, levies, and fees imposed on domestic flights.
“The second request Mr. President has asked that we should bring for him to fully consider and grant is that he wants to set up a committee to address the issues of levies, taxes, and fees on domestic tickets once and for all,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Patience Onyenkunle, said marketers would be invited to another meeting on Thursday to continue deliberations on the fuel price crisis.
“So, at this point, since this is an urgent matter on the table, there is the suggestion and the agreement that the marketers will be invited here tomorrow for us to continue this deliberation,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the airline operators, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, lamented that the airline business was gradually choking without meaningful returns, forcing operators to borrow just to stay afloat.
“We are bleeding. Yes, we threatened to shut down, not because we wanted to shut down, but because we had no money any longer to continue to borrow money from the banks just to pay for fuel and neglecting other things that are supposed to be done in the industry,” Onyema said.
He also questioned the reported 300 percent increase in Jet A1 fuel despite claims that supplies from Dangote Refinery remain relatively cheaper.
“This is a welcome development, but the truth is that the marketers must be brought to book to explain how they got about the 300 percent increase, when even Dangote is surprised because what he’s selling to us remains the cheapest, and some of them lifted from there," said Onyema.
"So why the astronomical rise? Thankfully, we are going to meet with them tomorrow.”
Onyema, however, appealed to President Tinubu to grant a total waiver of all debts owed by airline operators and suspend further payments until the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.
“But the most important thing is that we appreciate Mr. President for coming to our rescue, but we want to say that instead of for President to decide which discount to give us, we are asking for a total waiver, because airlines are asking for a total waiver of all the debts we owe, and at the same time a suspension of further payment until Hormuz is open,” he said.
