Nigeria: Fuel Scarcity, Bad Weather Leave Families, Foreigners Stranded At Airport

Many families and foreigners were among the crowd of passengers stranded at the Murtala Muhammed Airport terminals yesterday as the current fuel scarcity got worsened by effects of bad weather.

The cloudy weather that threatened heavy downpour since Tuesday, denied local airline operators the much- needed clear visibility for landing and take- off.

The Guardian gathered that scheduled services that were cancelled on Monday due to fuel scarcity, but rescheduled for Tuesday, were still delayed indefinitely yesterday.

A family of six at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, lamented with pains their fruitless efforts to leave Lagos since Sunday afternoon.

The Uyo-bound passengers were in Lagos to attend a function and due to return to Akwa Ibom on Sunday. After about five hours of delay, the airline, being one of the most popular in the GAT, canceled the flight.

According to the father, Emmanuel: "We were planning to return by road on Tuesday morning when the airline sent text messages that the flight would take off at 9.00am. This is already 2.00pm. We still don't know our fate," he said.

Among the stranded were also an Indian family of four heading to an undisclosed destination. It would be recalled that the airline operators had a torrid time running scheduled flight services all through the weekend due to the return of aviation fuel scarcity.

Official of one of the airlines said they were unrelenting in sourcing for fuel to meet their obligations to customers, "but the weather has been a major hindrance."

On Sunday afternoon, all flight services were cancelled at the GAT, Lagos, while rationed flight operations took place at the Murtala Muhammed Airport II (MMA2) also in Lagos with spiralled effect to major airports nationwide.

The rationed services, however, continued till yesterday as fuel scarcity persisted. Several outbound flights were delayed for some hours, as operators struggle with oil marketers to get fuel supply even at exorbitant rates.

Oil marketers that are responsible for the importation and supply of the aviation fuel, otherwise called Jet-A1, have blamed the high cost of purchasing dollar as the bane of the current scarcity.

Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Obafemi Olawole, told The Guardian that the current rate of N320-plus to one dollar, which banks are offering oil marketers, discouraged importers to bring in the essential commodity.