Airlines plying the Accra-Lagos route have had to reschedule or cancel their flights altogether, following fuel supply challenges in Nigeria.
Passengers have had to contend with delayed flights while some airlines still plying the route have had to reduce the number of passengers they transport from Accra, having filled their fuel tanks to avoid lifting fuel in Nigeria.
“We are operating our Accra-Lagos-Accra flights. Given the aviation fuel challenges in Nigeria, we have had to reduce the passenger numbers since we fill our fuel tanks in Accra before leaving,” an airlines source stated.
The oil-rich West African country, which is the 13th-largest oil producer in the world with a daily output of some 2.4million bbl/day, is experiencing shortage of oil products including the specialised aviation fuel for months now.
It has recently been reported that outstanding debts, currency crisis, and fuel subsidy disputes are some of the major reasons for the fuel crisis.
The report noted that despite being one of the world’s biggest oil producers, Nigeria imports most of its fuel and is currently facing a severe shortage.
It does not have enough oil refineries, and even if the four it has were running at full capacity they would only supply a quarter of the country’s needs, said John Ashbourne – an economist at the financial research firm Capital Economics who spoke to the BBC recently.
“To meet demands, the national oil company imports around 50% of its fuel needs. The remainder is then supposed to be imported by private fuel distributors. But for months these companies have been reducing their imports, leading to the current fuel shortages,” the BBC said.
The FT last month also reported that Nigeria’s foreign reserves have been falling since the price of oil, which provides 90 percent of export earnings, began to plummet in mid-2014.
The central bank imposed currency controls last year to conserve reserves, but they have had a limited impact as the bank has also continued to spend dollars defending an official peg for the naira.
The dollar crunch has forced multinationals such as Unilever and Guinness to raise prices and even prompted Truworths, the South African retailer, to leave Nigeria in February. It is now also damaging Nigeria’s ability to import fuel.
Prior to the current crisis, Nigeria had been an attractive destination for lifting fuel by airlines operating flights within and out of the region due to its competitive price.
While the specialised fuel as at January was sold for about US$2.30 cents per litre in Nigeria, US$2.30 in Benin and US$1.94 cents per litre in Cameroon, it was sold for close to US$3.14 cents per litre in Ghana
The Accra-Lagos route is one of the most important and profitable in the sub-region, given the volume of trade between the two countries. It is key to the survival and growth of Ghanaian registered carriers, primarily because they are unable to break-even on domestic destinations and need to ply the route.
There is a large Nigerian community in Ghana and vice versa. Both Ghanaian and Nigerian businesses are looking to expand into each other’s country. Business travel on the route is therefore paramount.
Statistics from Ghana’s National Accreditation Board (NAB) indicate that citizens from Africa’s most populous nation now top the list of foreign students.
The data revealed that there are about 7,375 Nigeria citizens out of the 10,793 foreign students pursuing programmes in Ghana’s universities.
Cote d’Ivoire is second on the list with a total of 634 citizens studying in Ghana’s universities, followed by Congo, Cameroon and Gambia. Togo has 154 students, Angola 44 and Ethiopia 11.
African World Airlines (AWA) still operates scheduled flights between the two capitals; Arik Air, Dana Air and Aero Contractors still fly, albeit with a few delays and cancellations.
Source: B&FT Online