The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) said on Saturday it would stand strongly in support of the federal government’s resolve to fully deregulate the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.The declaration of support by the aircraft pilots and engineers came barely few hours after the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; Trade Union Congress, TUC and their affiliates and allies in the civil society issued a 96-hour ultimatum to government to rescind the decisionor face the wrath of their members.NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, told reporters in Abuja that the policy, which resulted in the hike in petrol price from N86.50 per litre to N145, wasrejected because it was “unrealistic, unaffordable, and unacceptable.”But, NAAPE, in a contrasting opinion, described the deregulation policy as a step in the right direction, pointing out that although it was long overdue, it was better late than never.National President, Isaac Balami, who commended the government for the bold decision, said the subsidy scheme was extremely fraud-prone, adding that trying to reform the process was like “attempting to reform Satan (devil) – an impossibility task”.He said the operators in the aviation industry, government must begin the refining of the aviation fuel, popularly called Jet A1 from the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries, to help reduce the costs of operation and flight tickets, since fuel alone constituted about 30 to 40 per cent of operational cost.Mr. Balami said government should also look into the issue of establishing a national carrier as promised or strengthen the local domestic carriers as soon as possible, as the industry was currently at a standstill.
Credit; Premium Times
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