Ghana's relatively cheaper aviation fuel is killing Nigerian business as more Local and international airline operators have shifted their attention to do business in Ghana.

The inability of oil marketers in Nigeria to source forex to import the product, has been considered as the reason behind the decline in the Country's aviation fuel markets,with countries like Gabon, Liberia and Sierra Leon also claiming a bigger market share than Africa's most populous country,  The Sun reports.

At present, other locations supplying Jet A1 to airlines in the sub-region, according to reports, include Gabon, Liberia and Sierra Leone with many trooping to these countries to refuel.

Fuel accounts for almost 40 per cent of the overhead of airlines and many would always head for markets where it is sold cheap. “Almost all the foreign airlines operating into Nigeria now refuel outside this country once they load their passengers or cargo,” a senior official of one of the oil marketing firms at the Lagos airport said.

In 2016 alone, cost per litre of aviation fuel rose from N120 per litre to N175 and later to N250. In the northern part of the country, it could sell for as high as N270 per litre.

This shows that while aviation fuel is sold at between N250 and N270 in Nigeria, the product is sold at N110 per litre in Accra as the Ghanaian government deliberately crashed the price of the product by 20 per cent recently to woo airlines from Nigeria to Ghana.

At present, some of the airlines lifting passengers in Nigeria and refuelling outside the country include, Delta Airlines, Arik Air, Medview, Emirates and South African Airlines.

By:Fiifi Abdul Malik