By Rotimi Fasan
The Federal Government through the Central Bank last week released $265 million to airline companies operating in the country. These are mostly businesses owned by foreigners. The aviation industry like most other sectors of the economy has been going through a very rough patch in the last few months. There had been a lot of hue and cry about the scarcity of aviation fuel which mostly affected local airlines.
But the scarcity of foreign exchange has translated into bad
business for the major airline companies that have not been able to repatriate
profits that are trapped in naira in local banks. After weeks of lamentation
without any improvement in their situation, a number of them, including British
Airways and Emirates, had taken the hard decision to halt their operations in
the country beginning from the end of August 2022.
The decision of these airline companies, should it come into effect, would amount to a virtual lockdown of the international routes of the Nigerian aviation sector. For a country that lacks a national carrier, this would be disastrous. As footloose as Nigerians, especially the elite, tend to be, it is both ironic and scandalous that they rely almost exclusively on foreigners for their international junketing. Yet our airports display some of the most exotic private jets, not one of them can be repaired or maintained locally, that are left idle while incurring avoidable debts on airport tarmacs and hangers.
