A former Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren has called on the Federal government to allow foreign airlines operating into the country to sell their First and Business class flight tickets in dollars.
Demuren who made the call at the fourth quarter Breakfast Business Meeting 2022 (Q4BBM2022) organized by Aviation Round Table (ART) and held at Golfview hotel ikeja, Lagos, noted that this would help address the issue of trapped funds of the foreign airlines in Nigeria.
Lamenting that losses associated with the inability of foreign airlines to repatriate the proceeds of their tickets sold in Nigeria to their home countries, are enormously, the former NCAA boss feared that it would mean bad businesses for all; if the affected airlines who may not return to Nigeria again, are allowed to leave now.
He reasoned that if tickets of those classes are sold in dollars, it would reduced the pressure of the demand for dollars on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the foreign airlines.
“This problem needs to be solved and we must stop this problem. Your family is abroad? Ok, you will go by boat to go and see them when the airlines stop operation. They have money but they can’t take it out. It is not done in other places. You need to cut your losses. What I am saying is that we can solve it. The Minister of Aviation, Director General of NCAA, and Minister of Finance are working on it. They are sitting down to look at it. It will keep growing”.
He added, “You know Varig Airlines; that is why they left the country. They did not come back. Other airlines left and did not come back. At the end of the day, if they don’t get their returns, it is not good business for anybody to do. We have to face it. If the government has a solution, that is great. They must work together. This government didn’t cause it. It is a problem we have. If Nigeria is selling oil, we will have a lot of dollars. We have to make sure we solve it together”, he added.
