Naira Exchange Rate Grounds Air Cargo Business In Nigeria

The President, Association of Foreign Airlines Representatives in Nigeria (AFRAN), Kingsley Nwokoma, has said that the high exchange rate of the naira to other major international currencies has grounded air cargo business in the country.
He said the situation has become bad as most businessmen have been discouraged from bringing goods into the country.
According to Nwokoma, importers do not have access to the US dollars due to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new policy on foreign exchange.
He lamented the high exchange rate of the Naira  to  the dollar even as he said “this means that goods imported are sold at higher prices at a time the purchasing power of the average Nigerian was low.”
The AFRAN boss further explained that most of the airlines that are no more brining cargo import are threatening to stop operating into Nigeria as it was not possible for a 100 –ton aircraft to be bringing 10-ton cargo into the country.
He lamented that no matter the quantity of the cargo, the airline must pay the same charges to the Federal Airports AUTHORITY OF Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Further he explained, upon this, airlines operators are also made to pay for fuel which he said was not profitable to bring cargo into the country presently.
He, however, expressed the hope that the situation may change for the better after the appointment of ministers who are expected to drive the policies in the various sectors of the economy.
However, industry officials of some of the major handling companies had said that business was really down but expressed, the hope that it would soon start to pick up, even as they added that “this month is better than last month.”