Travel agents in Nigeria are facing fresh hurdles as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) enforces a policy limiting dollar withdrawals and transfers to a maximum of $10,000 daily, severely impacting their ability to remit funds to international airlines. The policy, initially aimed at curbing forex abuse and stabilising the naira, has created tension in the travel and aviation sectors, where transactions often involve high volumes of foreign currency.
The situation is drawing comparisons to the COVID-19 era, when foreign airlines were unable to repatriate over $744 million in ticket sales due to dollar scarcity. Although the Federal Government cleared those trapped funds in 2023, the issue has resurfaced with a different dimension—policy bottlenecks, not dollar scarcity.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had in the past approved United Bank for Africa (UBA) as the official bank for handling remittances of airline proceeds from Nigeria. However, even with that structure in place, travel agents say the CBN’s daily dollar transfer limits have placed them in an impossible situation.
Several foreign airlines, including Emirates, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines, have now stopped accepting naira payments and insist on dollar-only ticket sales. While Emirates had suspended operations in Nigeria in 2022 over trapped funds and later returned on condition of dollar payments, Delta and United Airlines reportedly have bilateral agreements with Nigeria allowing them to sell tickets in foreign currencies. This has left travel agents holding more dollars than they can legally remit within the stipulated timeframe, putting them at risk of defaulting on IATA payment timelines.
Travel experts say the consequences could be dire. According to Susan Akporaiye, former President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) and CEO of Topaz Travels and Tours, “If I sell five business class tickets at $10,000 each, that’s $50,000. I can only transfer $10,000 a day. It would take me five days to remit that amount, but IATA expects payment within two weeks. Failure to do so could get the agency blacklisted.”
She expressed frustration that the government allowed airlines to continue charging in dollars even after clearing their backlog of trapped funds, asking why they cannot revert to collecting naira now that the forex crisis has eased. “It’s not even our money—it’s the ticket sales we collect on behalf of the airlines,” she said.
Bankole Bernard, Group Managing Director of Finchglow Holdings, echoed similar concerns. “I sell $15,000 worth of tickets in a day, but I can only remit $10,000. What happens to the remaining $5,000? I’ll go into default. If I can’t meet my $250,000 commitment in 15 days, IATA will penalise me.”
He further criticised the Federal Government for “yielding to foreign pressure” by allowing airlines to charge in dollars without considering the impact on local agents and Nigerian travellers, who must now source hard currency in a volatile exchange rate environment.
Despite appeals, aviation regulators like the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have not intervened to halt the practice of dollar-denominated ticketing, despite repeated calls from NANTA. In 2024, NANTA formally petitioned the NCAA to mandate all airlines operating in Nigeria to price tickets in naira, but no action has been taken.
Yinka Folami, President of NANTA, confirmed that discussions are ongoing with the government to find a solution, and expressed hope that a workable arrangement will be reached soon.
