In a move to check a brewing crisis in the country’s aviation sector, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday, August 26, 2022, released the sum of $265 million to airlines operating in the country, to settle outstanding ticket sales. A breakdown of the figure indicates that the sum of $230 million was released as special FX intervention while another sum of $35 million was released through Retail SMIS auction.
Confirming the release, the Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi said the Governor, Godwin Emefiele and his team were concerned about the development and what it portends for the sector and travelers as well as the country in the comity of nations. Mr. Nwanisobi reiterated that the Bank was not against any company repatriating its funds from the country, adding that what the Bank stood for was an orderly exit for those that might be interested in doing so. With Friday’s release, it is expected that operators and travelers as well will heave huge sighs of relief, as some airlines had threatened to withdraw their services in the face of unremitted funds for outstanding sale of tickets.
It will be recalled that Emirates and Turkish airlines had threatened to exit from flying into and out of Nigeria due to inability to repatriate revenue from ticket sales. Blocked funds belonging to foreign airlines have risen to about $600 million as the CBN had not been able to make the dollar available for the carriers to repatriate. Executive Officer of an aviation company, Mr Segun Adewale had said that revenue from ticket sales which accumulated since 2021 till July 2022 was blocked by the CBN from being repatriated to airline operators through the International Air Transport Association (IATA). “The repatriation of revenues of all tickets sold to travellers by airline operators to their home offices is the responsibility of the CBN, but it has refused to release the equivalent in dollars for service already rendered. We have lost so many airlines and jobs are being lost in the aviation sector and at airports generally. The development is inimical to our economic wellbeing as a nation; from the spiritual angle of thought, it is wrong to muzzle the ox that threads the corn,’’ Adewale had alleged.
