Airline operators under the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have accused the federal government of blocking the repatriation of over $700 million from ticket sales.
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The operators stated this on Monday during an interactive session organized by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
It would be recalled that Emirate Airlines had planned to stop operations in Nigeria over $85 million trapped funds until the intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
As of August, the total trapped fund was $464 million US dollars. But the IATA stated that the funds have increased to over $700 million.
Samson Fatokun, who spoke on behalf of the foreign airlines said several times that the government must obey the international laws and treaties governing the aviation sector.
He stated that under the BASA principle, the Nigerian government has an obligation to support the airlines to repatriate their funds in the US dollar.
“These are contractual obligations that have been signed. As of today, after the CBN intervention of August 29, we have about $700 million in blocked funds. This is astronomically high and it is the highest in the world. There is no country in the world that has that amount of blocked funds. Nigeria accounts for 32% of the trapped funds in the world. That is 1/3 of the total blocked funds in the world,” he said.
However, local operators who were at the meeting disagreed with their foreign counterparts.
Allen Onyema, the owner of Air Peace, said the local operators are more patriotic and can perform better if given the opportunity.
Onyema said some countries like the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates are not reciprocating the bilateral agreement in the aviation sector.
He also raised the maltreatment of Nigerian-owned airlines by the UK government.
Also speaking on behalf of the local airlines, Obiora Okonkwo, said foreign airlines should use the I and E window to source for dollars instead of waiting for the CBN to give them dollars.
“The money is in the account, they have access to it. It is in Naira and they can use it as they please, including investing in Nigeria if they wish. But we understand that the policy of Nigeria is simple,” he said.
Following today’s meeting, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila adjourned the meeting till Thursday to allow the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, and the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele to attend the next meeting.
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