The Nigerian House of Reps has assured foreign airlines that the Federal Government will facilitate the repatriation of up to half of their trapped funds by the end of 2022.
This was disclosed by the speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila in Abuja on Monday at a roundtable with aviation stakeholders to resolve the issue of trapped foreign airlines’ funds of 700 million dollars in Nigeria.
Gbajabiamila also noted that Nigeria is committed to adhering to the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) provisions.
The Speaker noted that there is an urgent need to shift grounds in the interim, but maintained that in the long run, the solution would be to implement BASA agreements on both ends.
He added that the government plans to pay half of the trapped funds by the end of 2022 so that Emirates Airlines can continue to do business in Nigeria.
“Even if we clear the backlog, we will still run into these issues for as long as the BASA agreement of reciprocity is not respected because we will continue to accumulate.
“If BASA is respected, Nigerian airlines will reduce the deficit going to the foreign airline, so there is no running away from that and we will enforce that,’’ he said.
Gbajabiamila added that national interest should always be on the front burner. He also stated that if the UAE’s visa ban on Nigerians was connected in any way with the trapped funds, then that would be the most nauseating thing he ever heard.
“We will, in the long run, sit with the government of UAE and let it know that Nigeria is not a country that you can toy with.
“I know that there are ways where Nigeria has the upper hand on them; the doctrine of reciprocity is not confined to the issue at hand.
“It can be defined in a broad term and that is what I want the government of UAE and indeed any other country to realize. National pride and sovereignty are two important things. What they wouldn’t take, they should not dish out,’’ he said.
In his submissions, the Governor of the central bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said since 2016, the bank had always accorded priority to foreign airlines to repatriate their funds.
He stressed that the bank accorded extreme priority to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the allocation of foreign exchange.
Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika said Nigeria, said FG expects airlines that disagree with them to come forward and negotiate. He said, “you come to us and we negotiate and we give you what we have in the hope that we finish paying; what I have a problem with is threats.
“Every country; every airline will threaten Nigeria. We will not fly to Nigeria again; we are not giving Nigerians visa; we won’t do our operations; we will shut down Abuja and Lagos,’’ he quoted the other countries as saying.
“Please countries have been shut completely and they did well, there are examples in Asia, the Middle East and even Europe; we are not afraid of being shut (out).
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“It will help us to do better; our school and hospitals will do better; we will begin to go to our hospitals and our schools.
“If you shut out Nigeria, it does not make any sense and we are not threatened,’’ he added.
Nairametrics reported last week that The Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN) accused the Federal Government of violating the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) arrangements it signed with various airlines following its continued withholding of foreign airlines’ ticket sales earnings.
AFARN said it was high time the Federal Government sat down with the affected airlines to reach an agreement on how to facilitate the repatriation of the funds which are now over $600 million.
Source: Nairametrics
