The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele has announced that $120 million will be given to foreign airlines to allow them to repatriate their ticket revenue stuck in Nigeria.
He said the fund would be made available by Monday, October 31, 2022. This is in continuation of the $265 million that the central bank released in August 2022, after allegations by foreign airlines that their revenue was stuck within the country.
According to Emefiele, the provision of the funds would be gradual, and this had been explained to the foreign airlines before they had protested back in August.
But the apex bank governor had said that the international airlines had gone ahead to blackmail Nigeria.
The CBN governor made this was made known during a meeting with the leadership of the house of representatives, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, the International Air Transportation Association -IATA, Airlines Operators of Nigeria -AON, and others on Monday, October 24.
He explained that foreign countries need to allow Nigerian airlines to also carry out operations according to Bilateral Aviation Services Agreement -BASA, to allow the country to earn in dollars because the CBN is unable to print the United States currency.
According to Emefiele, Nigerian airlines are frustrated by foreign authorities not allowing them to properly do their business.
