Airlines volunteered to patronise Dangote, Keyamo clarifies

Festus Keyamo, the minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development has clarified his earlier comment on Channels TV on the sale of aviation fuel by the Dangote refinery to airlines.

Keyamo said airlines voluntarily decided they would patronise the Dangote refinery, and were forced by the government.

This clarification is coming after reports stated that the Federal Government of Nigeria had said that Dangote refinery was authorised to serve as the only provider of jet fuel, or Jet A1, to aircraft companies operating in the country.

On his X handle, Kayamo stated that “Airline Operators of Nigeria voluntarily decided they would patronise Dangote refinery in their purchase of JET A1 fuel and not that the Federal Government approves Dangote refinery as the sole supplier. That is not correct.”

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During the interview on the TV platform, Kayamo said, “The airline operators just met recently. With my blessing, it’s a decision from the airline operators in Nigeria that they should only buy from Dangote refinery Jet A1.

“You can see that we’ve started a naira-for-crude purchase with Dangote. It’s all naira, no dollar component,” Keyamo said.

He explained that the timing was good as Dangote and the Federal Government recently put the naira-for-crude agreement into effect.

Keyamo stressed that this arrangement would lessen the strain on foreign currency.

“The price will no longer be subjected to the varying factors of the international market or the headwinds of oil price in the international market. It will be in local currency so we can be clear as to the cost of it. We will buy in naira. I’m sure we are going to have access to cheaper Jet A1 fuel,” Keyamo said.