Kingsley Nwokeoma, the president of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, or AFARN, has requested documentation from the federal government proving that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has paid off all legitimate foreign exchange debts that the federal government owes to international airlines.
Although international airlines have been instructed to obtain their monies from banks using the I & E window rate, Nwokeoma told Vanguard that they have refused since the current rate for the I & E window differs from what they used to sell tickets.
He said;
“If they’ve paid, they should let us know how much has been paid. Where is the evidence of payment? They should show us evidence of payments and we will thank them because payment is what we want. The backlog of trapped funds made foreign airlines stop releasing low inventory tickets.”
Nigeria leads the list of nations that account for 68.0% of restricted funds with $812.2 million. The remaining ones are Lebanon ($141.2 million), Pakistan ($188.2 million), Algeria ($196.3 million), Bangladesh ($214.1 million), and Pakistan.