 Welcome back. It's still the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. We have a guest standing by, of course, as we have the first major conversation this morning. Our players in the nation's aviation industry have called on the federal government to prioritize as a matter of urgency, the refining of Jet A1 fuel, also known as aviation fuel, to stem the rise of the price of the product, or in the rise, to stem the rise of the product, rather, the rise of the price of the product. The government was also asked to provide special funding to the aviation industry in order to address the issues of foreign exchange and other, foreign exchange, rather, and other challenges facing organizations. I was speaking yesterday or recently at the opening of the 51st annual general meeting and conference organized by the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association, NACA, organized with a theme energy crisis and the aviation industry, a quest for sustainable growth in Ibadon, the New York state capital chairman of the occasion, Professor Anthony Kila, and lamented the failure of government to refine Jet A1, which he says is affecting the economy. Kila insisted that the industry should be seen as an essential infrastructure by the government adding that aviation should not be treated as elitist. These indeed are some interesting ideas for the aviation sector and its relationship with the energy sector, but are these what the nation needs? Joining us now to provide analysis of this, Ulumide Ohunayo is assistant secretary general of aviation safety round table initiative. Ulumide, thank you very much for your time. Starting off, can Nigeria refine Jet A1? I thought today we cannot refine Jet A1, but we can in future. We have so many models of refineries in Nigeria that have not been supplied and needed to refine. So if this is done, you will be able to refine. Again, the government plan is to wait for the government refinery and the revamping of the product and the refinery. So that is the government plan. You said that we cannot refine Jet A1. Why can't we refine Jet A1? As I said today we did not have the opportunity to do the refining in the country. But we have some modular refineries that have been lying to us who are actually waiting for us to go supply. Those are people that can help us at the moment. Or when the customer name could come up, I'm sorry, I'm afraid we will not be able to refine. So are you saying that it's the type of refinery that we have right now or is the fact that we can't really refine it? Because it sounds like that's almost impossible. So what happens to the turnaround maintenance? We don't have any refineries at the moment. Excuse me? We don't have any refineries at the moment. But our problem is, would you building one for exclusively provisioned fuel? So is this called therefore by the members of this particular event talking about the Nigerian Air Controllers Association? Is this called by the Nigerian Air Controllers Association to the federal government to prioritize refining of Jet A1 misplaced? Do you think they are saying, you know what, look at a way of fixing the refining infrastructure in the country and then prioritizing Jet A1 ahead of others? Because these are all aviation professionals like you are. No, it's not a misplaced call. The call is appropriate. If we need to bring down the cost of aviation fuel, if we need to bring down the cost of aviation and I mentioned that IA lengths fly and it's up as yes. For passengers to come down, they will need to refine. So that would be a reason for it to be cheaper. Alright, is it, would you say, because the gentleman, we cited Professor Antonio Kila who lamented the failure of the government to refine Jet A1 as having a big effect on the economy. He's also insisting that the industry should be seen as essential infrastructure by the government. You think government is not really seeing the aviation industry as being essential as the gentleman is saying. He's saying that they are treating it as elitist while it's actually essential and not elitist. Do you think that's really how the government is viewing this? If we are discussing the aviation work, I don't think aviation is a solution. There has been a problem generally with the first supply in the country. The aviation fund is not subsidized, it's deregulated. So anybody that refines will make profit. So I think it's a kind of systemic problem that has affected all the first supply, both aviation, the aviation world, diesel, petroleum payments. If we look back, prior to the 90s, the refineries actually functioned to its maximum capacity. They were functioning instead that they were able to meet up with local supplies and have extra products that were exported. So what has actually changed now? What's really the issue? The issue right now is the Russian war, war actually with the Russian forces in the market. Also before the fall of the Naira to the other currencies. And because we did not require, we have to enforce. So as we are enforcing, we have the bad currency and the price has gone up in the market. So it has affected the price of the Naira one. And you also know it is not subsidized, deregulated. So we pay the market price. What do you think, I mean, quickly, do you think that this is very valid to say because the Russian war is a recent happening? What has been the capacity of our refinery to refine products? I mean, how much of it? All of these refineries from the inception or from when they were commissioned, they had, you know, a required capacity that they should meet. Have they been meeting all of that? When we also talk about the issue of turning around maintenance, how far have we fed? We're looking at best global practice now. When was the last time we had a turnaround maintenance for our refinery? So do you think that it's very logical that every other time we blame the Russian war that just happened some months ago on the fact that we are able to, you know, refine our products in Nigeria? And also juxtaposing that with the issue of, you know, pipeline vandalism? The Honorable Minister of Addition has said the social worker crisis is the harsh solution. The social worker crisis is for the inauguration of the dengue refinery and the process of the reconnaissance on the end of the year. So before then, what's the answer to the question? All right, Lumide, if you can hear us, you know, several stakeholders in the industry, aviation industry in Nigeria have given some sort of advice to the federal government who runs the sector in the country, are looking at solutions and we want you to speak, talk about solutions. For instance, the aviation or airline operators of Nigeria sometime this year said, you know, the federal government should look at intervention over the issue of forex as a way of helping out the sector. I mean, looking at aviation fuel, you know, prices going above 900 naira per litre, edging to 1,000 naira per litre, and its impact on the cost of the airfares in the country. Its impact also on the Nigerian economy, with people not being able to move as they would like to move. So what do you think the solutions are? Should the federal government intervene in what way should they intervene? Is it in terms of subsidies? Is it in terms of bailouts? Is it in terms of looking at how to solve a forex situation? You know, because that's another problem altogether, the forex scarcity, apart from the high cost of the product, the forex scarcity is also an issue. So what are the solutions, you know, in your opinion? All right, and I think, do we still have Illumidi Unaio with us? All right, I think we have lost him. Of course, we hope we'll have had him for longer, but we have to go. We have to go. But these are the issues. Hopefully, and certainly, we'll have him back on the program to talk about this very important sector, aviation, the aviation sector in the country. We will have to take a break at this point. When we return, we have more on the breakfast right here on Plus TV Africa. Please stay with us.