The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released $265 million to foreign airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding ticket sales.
Already some foreign airlines, including Emirates Airline have given notice that they might stop operating flight services in Nigeria because of their inability to repatriate their ticket sales.
Following this latest development, some aviation experts have commended the Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele for releasing the funds to avoid the impending crisis in the local aviation sector.
Group Capt. John Ojikutu, a former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammad Airport, Lagos, commended the CBN for releasing the funds and urged the apex bank to ensure that companies and institutions wishing to repatriate funds from Nigeria do so without any hindrance.
“Obligations in international commercial aviation are done or returned in dollars. These airlines pay our public and private services providers in dollars, why would they not take back home in dollars their sales in naira?
“It is also a vault face by those in government administration who cannot account for the dollars earned in commercial aviation from these airlines,“ local media reports quoted Ojikutu as saying on Sunday.
In the same vein, Capt. Wale Otubanjo, an official of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), also commended the CBN for the release of funds to foreign airlines.
Otubanjo assured that that the release of the funds would end the current crisis rocking the Nigerian aviation sector.
“Effective and efficient proper disbursement of foreign exchange to appropriate investors in Nigeria ought to be put in place.
“Airplane spares are not sold in Naira, so we expect the Central Bank of Nigeria to make it a priority to disburse foreign exchange to operators to enhance safety of the travelling public,“ he added.
GIK/APA