ABUJA – The $812.2 million funds belonging to foreign airlines, which has been trapped in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is to be released immediately, the Federal Government, announced on Thursday, a move that could lead to the ending the bitterness of the operators, which led to the withdrawal of flights by Emirates into Nigeria.
Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, who made the commitment at the closing ceremony of the 7th African Aviation Summit in Abuja, said that the FG had commenced the process of paying the companies their unrepatriated funds, a situation that has engendered a diplomatic row with some countries.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had confirmed in June this year that $812.2 million of foreign airlines’ funds are withheld in Nigeria, a situation which had sparked off some discontent in the industry, leading to United Arab Emirates (UAE), slamming a blanket ban on Nigerian citizens into their country, apart from the ending flight operations of its national carrier to Nigeria.
Keyamo, who said President Bola Tinubu was concerned over the development, assured that efforts were being made to ensure that the funds of the foreign airlines were repatriated, adding that the Ministry of Finance and the CBN were working on a feasible timeframe convenient for the release of the funds.
“In fact, it is one of the issues we went to discuss in the UAE. I spoke with the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Mminister of the Economy and he has given an indication that within the next few weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria will be very clear as to the timeframe or the programme within which these issues will be addressed.
“They will be paid off; these are not loans, they are trapped funds, they are funds that are there, it is only the issue of liquidity that is our problem. Liquidity issues are being addressed as I speak right now. It is something that the president is very concerned about, and that issue, I said that we have addressed it in the UAE and very soon, you will hear from the financial sector.”