Before Foreign Airlines Leave Nigeria…

There are reports that
most of the foreign airlines are considering shuttng down operations in Nigeria routes. It would be recalled that foreign airlines have been having difficulties repatriating their earnings due to the new forex regime of the federal government.
Foreign airlines, according to reports, were also planning to sack about 2,000 Nigerian workers due to what they claimed is their inability to transfer their earnings to their respective home countries to meet operational costs in accordance with international rules because of new CBN policy on forex and fund transfer.
Already, two foreign carriers namely: Iberia and United Airlines have announced their exit from Nigeria routes, citing operational and financial challenges due to the financial predicaments brought upon them by the CBN forex policy, which prevented them from repatriating their proceeds made in Nigeria for many months now. Other carriers are Ethihad Airlines, Qatar Airlines and Air France which have issued notice to the Ministry of Aviation to restrict flights to Nigeria if the current foreign exchange policy is not reviewed.
In reaction to this development, recently, the International Aviation Transport Association (IATA) called on the Nigerian government to ease and facilitate the repatriation of funds by foreign airlines in keeping with international agreements. Mr Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director-General and CEO gave the charge to Nigerian government and Venezuela counterpart and other oil producing countries who have been badly affected by the sudden drop in the price of oil, necessitating those countries coming up with stringent foreign exchange policies.
Against this backdrop, it has become necessary to call on the Federal Government to apply its wisdom to prevent anything that will further plunge the country’s economy.
Aviation is a good economic activity and it is good to use it to build Nigeria’s struggling economy. Every effort should be made to expand our aviation industry and develop it profitably. Profitable growth is the objective and it is achieveable only by the combined efforts of government, regulatory bodies, airline managementsand the public at large.
Civil aviation is a major foreign exchange earner for the country. The Nigeria Civil aviation industry earns millions of dollar on daily basis from it. It is well known that a good chunk of the country’s air travels is done by foreign airlines. Great loss would therefore be suffered if foreign airlines stop to ply the routes of Nigeria.
It could be counter-productive to allow foreign airlines leave the Nigeria routes in view of the importance of the country in the world’s economic map. Nigeria cannot afford to create any vacuum in the airspace by shutting out foreign airlines from plying its routes.
However, foreign airlines operators should also endeavour to adjust their policies to the economic realities in Nigeria. They should be able to make some sacrifice in the face of the present condition they find themselves in Nigeria and not to withdraw their flights. No country is an island in terms of business, so it is only possible to achieve success if people are prepared to make sacrifice.
Of course, we must all accept that imposing stringent policies on airlines is not too good. But we should understand that the government has the right to take action that would enhance its economic prosperity.
The new change in exchange forex by Nigerian government is temporary and not intended to undermine the operations of foreign airlines. It is a measure to improve the country’s economy as a result of the present global economic downturn.
However, the Nigerian government should on its part devise means that will make aviation business attractive to foreigners. It is on this note that I welcome the flexible forex regime recently introduced by the federal government.
Having come up with a more favourable foreign exchange policy, Nigerian government should now find a way by which airlines can access funds just as Kenya and the United States have done by injecting billions of dollars into their airline business. They did it to jump-start their aviation sectors in order to keep their economies going. Nigeria should follow suit.

Shedie Okpara