Govt moves to audit aviation fuel supply, facilities

Following recent incident of contamination of aviation fuel, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority said it has identified four non-licensed suppliers of aviation fuel across the country.

The Authority while stating that the suppliers penetrated the airports without due process said its collaboration with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) led to identifying them.

It noted that they had been chased out of the airports upon discovery. This was disclosed in Abuja yesterday during the inauguration of a 35-member joint NCAA audit committee of all aviation fuel activities in Nigeria.

The committee members are drawn from the NCAA, Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Department of State Services (DSS), NMPDPRA and the Association of Fuel Marketers in Nigeria.

Members of the committee are expected to conduct a holistic review and audit all fuelers, fueling facilities and equipment from the initial source of the fuel to the point of fueling into the aircraft within 60 days.

Speaking during the inauguration, the Director General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu said the task to be undertaken by the committee was not targeted at witch-hunting any marketer.

Nuhu who was represented by the Director of Operations, Licencing and Training Standards, Capt. Ibrahim Dambazau said: “Recently, there have been series of incidents relating to fuel contamination, in particular, that of Max Air fuel contamination in Yola that has generated a lot of attention in the country and all over the world. This has created a negative publicity in the industry and a level of fear amongst the public which is justified.

“The Authority has not been sleeping and has taken steps in the aftermath of the incidents which included the investigation of all the incidents that have been reported, collaboration with sister agencies in the aviation industry like Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that issue licences, and Department of State Security (DSS).

 

“This collaboration with NMPDRA has yielded positive results so far as the collaboration has led to the identification of all non-licensed fuelers and those with expired licences in Nigeria that has led to suspension of all their activities in the airport in Nigeria.

“All Operators Letter (AOL) has been issued mandating all Operators to comply with all requirements for fueling as approved, The Authority has also heightened its surveillance to ensure complete compliance.”

He continued: “Considering the gravity of the situation and the seriousness that the Authority is pursuing this matter, the Authority has set up a joint committee and mandated the committee to conduct a holistic review and audit all fuelers, fueling facilities and equipment from the initial source of the fuel to the point of fueling into the aircraft. This committee has membership drawn from the NCAA, NSIB, FAAN, DSS, NMPORA and the Association of Fuel Marketers in Nigeria.

 

“The committee has been mandated to identify all the root causes, proffer solutions and recommendations that would improve the level of safety in the aviation industry in Nigeria. The committee members will tour all over the country to ensure compliance with all regulatory and safety requirements.”

He assured that the recommendations from this committee would be fully implemented in the interest of the public and safe air travel in Nigeria.

The Director of Air Worthiness in NCAA, Engr. Abatan Gbolahan revealed the status of fuelers across the country.

He said based on the records available to it, there are 46 fuel facilities across the country.

On the status of the fuelers and how the non-licenced fuelers were discovered, he said: “Before this time, the regulation has been there for every fuel marketing company to get registered by NMDPRA and after that registration, they will still have to come to NCAA for the second process of registration before they will be allowed to get to airport area to do their business but somewhere along the line, we had some marketers penetrating the system without due process. We discovered it and a letter was written to NMDPRA to identify the status of all the companies who are supposed to be marketers and they sent us the list and their status.

“We were able to separate those who are actively in service, those whose licences have expired and those who didn’t have any form of certificate to do the business were flushed out of the airport not to supply fuel anymore.

“Those who had their licenses expired were given 60 days to get their licences renewed or perfect their certification process and those who have valid certificate continued with their business.

“Based on our records, we have 46 aviation facilities nationwide, that is our licence records. For the year 2023, we have 36 of them with valid licences, five facilities are undergoing licence renewal and we have five facilities with expired licences. The ones that were sent out are four.”