The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Friday, released $265 million to airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding ticket sales.
According to a statement by the Director, Corporate Communications Department of CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, the gesture is aimed at checking the crisis in the country’s aviation sector
A breakdown of the figure indicates that the sum of $230 million was released as special FX intervention, while another sum of $35 million was released through Retail SMIS auction.
Nwanisobi said that the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, and his team were concerned about the development and what it portends for the sector as well as travellers.
He said that the apex bank was not against any company repatriating its funds from the country.
“What the CBN stands for is an orderly exit for those that might be interested in doing so,” he said.
According to Nwanisobi, with the release, it is expected that operators and travellers will heave huge sighs of relief.
Some foreign airlines operating in Nigeia had threatened to withdraw their services in the face of unremitted funds for outstanding sales of tickets.
A Professor of Economics at the University of Ibadan, Prof. Lanre Olaniyan, described the gesture as a welcome development.
According to Olaniyan, some of the airlines that threatened to pull out of the country’s aviation sector will now have a rethink.
He, however, said that the inability of the airlines to repatriate their monies in the first place would affect confidence.
“”It is a welcome development, but like any other business, confidence will be low. Confidence is what makes businesses to thrive.
“Most of the airlines will now be treating Nigeria with caution, ” he said.
According to Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, a former President of the Chattered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the apex bank only did what it ought to have done earlier.
He described the release as debt that was being repaid, adding that the release could even have implications for the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
“The CBN ought to have settled the problems with the airlines before it got out of hand,” he said.
A personnel of a foreign airline, Isaac Olanipekun, commended the CBN for taking bold steps to solve the dollar crunch facing the aviation industry.
He called on the Federal Government and the CBN to ensure that such a situation does not recur.
