For a while now, stakeholders have continued to impress it in the heart of those in government to release money belonging to foreign airlines which the government has refused to pay.
This awkward situation has forced many foreign airlines to shut down operations in Nigeria. They had employed all known channels to appeal to the government.
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Trapped Funds Rising
The foreign airlines trapped funds in Nigeria rose to a whooping sum of $743 million around the month of March, early this year.
On Saturday, the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc, Dr. Seinde Fadeni, urged the government to Federal Government to release the $743 billion trapped funds to the foreign airlines.
He made the call over the weekend, at the 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company.
Fadeni told the Federal Government to “release funds belonging to foreign airlines trapped in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“It is only fair that those who work hard for their money should be allowed access to their money”.
Trapped Funds Now $802m
According to him, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had recently, disclosed that foreign airline’s funds trapped in Nigeria reached $802 million in April.
This is about half the total amount of trapped airlines fund in Africa, which stood at $1.6 billion within the same period, with IATA revealing that Africa’s Central Bank vaults hold 66% of such funds.
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Fadeni said the Federal Government should speedily resolve the issue of funds belonging to the airlines, saying, “NAHCO stands with the airlines and calls on the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to release these funds.
“This would give the government more credibility as well as increase foreign investors’ confidence in our nation”.
