By Abubakar Hashim
As an intervention short term strategy, Central Bank of Nigeria will intervene in the urgent provision of a special fund to rescue Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, from strike action.
A strike by AON was called off yesterday after the government promised to intervene. The airline owners and operators had decried the huge rise in Jet A1 fuel and vowed to suspend operations.
The CBN will provide AON 6 million litres of Jet A 1 Fuel at 480 subsidised rate to prevent another imminent shut down by AON operators
The fund will be chanelled directly to AON, for onward allocation to oil marketers, not middle men.
The world’s 6th largest oil producer, Nigeria, lacks a fully functional refinery. The four refineries are epileptic, resulting in mass importation of refined petroleum products, subsidised by government.
The 2022 budget factored 4 trillion Naira as subsidies, about 25 per cent of the annual budget, channeled through supplementary appropriation. The subsidy strategy is not sustainable, as it is channeled toward consumption, not production.
The much talked about Dangote refinery, will start operations by end of the year, with an expected refined capacity of 650,000 BPD.
