Fuel marketers beg FG to avoid commercial side of Jet A1 supply -

Major fuel marketers in Nigeria have appealed to the federal government not to step into the commercial-related issues in aviation fuel supply.

John Abegunde, a representative of aviation fuel marketers said getting involved in the commercial side of aviation fuel may jeopardize safety in the system.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) National Aviation Conference (FNAC) with the theme: ‘Advancing the Frontiers of Possibilities for Safe, Secure and Profitable Air Transport’, in Abuja on Wednesday, Abegunde explained that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other government agencies should rather be more concern about the stringency of the aviation fueling requirement.

He added that the fuel marketers subscribed to joint ownership of aviation companies, but kicked against the throughput arrangement, which he said may work against the industry growth in the future.

“We should be wary of portfolio investors who come in when there are opportunities in the sub-sector, but moves out with their briefcases immediately there is a challenge,” he said.

Also, speaking at the event, Bashir Ahmed, the vice-chairman, the Aviation Ground Handling Association of Nigeria (AGHAN), decried the level of infrastructure at most the airports, saying that it limited the turnaround time of operators at the apron.

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According to Ahmed, the scarcity of foreign exchange further reduces the operations and expansion of ground handling businesses in Nigeria.
He appealed to the Federal Government to take a critical look at the challenges in the industry and devise a means of addressing them.

He, however, lauded FAAN for installing two explosive detective scanning machines each at the warehouses of the ground handling companies in Lagos, saying this had gone a long way to enhance the performances of the handling companies in the industry.

He added: ”We still want to appeal to the Federal Government to grant waivers to handling companies on importation of ground handling equipment. Also, we need more scanning machines by FAAN to further improve our operations and create seamless services to our clients and the airlines.

”The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has also done well with its regulation of the industry. This shows that the Nigerian aviation industry is changing.”

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.