Stakeholders in the Nigerian aviation industry have taken a step forward to stem the tide of unfair hikes in airfares, which is adversely affecting passengers in the country. Top on the list of anomalies to be addressed is the issue of foreign airlines’ trapped funds in the country.
With over $743 million blocked funds belonging to foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, these stakeholders, especially travel and tour practitioners among them, are worried that the situation is already telling on their businesses.
The implications, according to them, include the designation of Nigeria as a high-risk country in doing business related to aviation, increase in insurance premium due to country risk and reluctance on the part of lessors to lease aircraft to Nigerian carriers or do so at a very high cost.
They also believe that Nigeria has the highest amount of trapped airlines’ funds which, to them, is not good enough for the country’s image in the global aviation industry.
To address such industry issues, the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) recently converged in Lagos and confirmed that some foreign airlines had started opening up their lower inventories for sales.
Speaking on the development, President of NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, said that since the last engagement with the media, the Minister of Aviation, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC) and some foreign airlines have been cooperative.
According to Akporiaye, what they want is for all of them to cooperate fully for the greater good of passengers and other partners in the business.
“We want to really sit down, learn and clearly understand what our portions are each time we come to a crossroad like this.
“Although the payment of foreign airlines trapped funds is still ongoing, it is not in the volume that is expected by the airlines.
“There is no 100 per cent halt. For instance, if somebody is expecting N100,000 and he gets N10,000, it means that payment is going on in trickles. When we had a meeting with the minister he never told us that some people were given preferential treatment. No, all of them are in a situation in which it is just in bits and pieces, the window is still open for them to do their normal two- week bidding”.
Akporiaye assured that steps are being taken to address the airline’s trapped funds, monopoly, unfair practices, border and visa issues and a whole lot of emerging complexities.
According to her, NANTA is also collaborating with the Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA) to host a hybrid multi-layered tourism industry conference which will help to address some critical issues in the industry.
She hinted that both bodies will assemble the best faculty from the University of Johannesburg on tourism enterprise and related businesses, to help define and determine the immediate and future drive of the industry, its profitability, and challenges.
“This unique conference, which will be certificated, is open to individuals, organisations and agencies in Nigeria and Ghana, particularly those with eyes on impacting positively on the growth and sustainability of the various value chains in the African cultural tourism economy”.
Meanwhile, airlines, travel agents, passengers on international routes and other stakeholders have, in recent times, been adversely affected by the issue of trapped funds of foreign airlines operating in the country.
As at December 2022, the trapped funds belonging to foreign airlines grew to $550 million, despite the recent intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to clear part of the funds.
According to reports, the trapped funds belonging to international carriers operating in Nigeria are estimated to be up to a whopping sum of $743,721,097 from $662m in January 2023.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
