He said the rising crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region
has made it difficult to grant foreign exchange to aviation operators.
Emefiele disclosed this on Monday, during a House of Reps
meeting between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while discussing ways of resolving the issues lamented
by the airline operators of Nigeria which almost resulted in the shut down of
airline operations.
He added that the CBN will not grant any concession to the
airline operators because it would amount to giving subsidy to aviation
operators.
Reacting to calls by the airline operators to reduce the
cost of aviation fuel, the CBN Governor said, “oil theft in the Niger Delta was
exacerbating the unavailability of foreign exchange.”
He added that the CBN had no foreign exchange for airline
operators and that since the landing cost of aviation fuel was N460 per litre,
the price would come to N550 per litre at the pump.
“I compelled some fuel marketers to take the loss and to
sell aviation fuel at N480 per litre after getting a call from the Chief of
Staff to the President that the operators were planning a strike and I promised
to intervene,’’ Emefiele said.
Also speaking on the matter, Mele Kyari, the GMD of the NNPC
said aviation fuel cannot have a fixed price because it is a deregulated
product.
“It is our role to ensure we intervene. We did. We brought
in products so that we can dampen the price. In March and April, we brought in
cargo and made it available to the entire industry at N460.
“There is a build-up to that price. When the customer takes
marine at N435, he has to transport, he has to charter vessel, bring it to his
depot, to his fuel station and transport it. So there cannot be two same prices
in Lagos and Maiduguri. We cannot fix the price. We cannot ask for N500. We
cannot say it must be below N600 or N700,” Kyari stated.