Nigeria government stoic over $792 million airlines blocked funds

Nigeria has yet to present a concrete plan to settle the estimated $792m of airlines’ blocked funds in the populous West African country.

Blocked funds refer to airlines’ inability to repatriate their profits from a country they operate in. Despite initial attempts to engage IATA over the issue, the Nigerian government has gone quiet for months.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) data shows that US$1.9billion of airlines’ funds are blocked in Africa with Nigeria leading the pack.

Egypt – $348m, Algeria – $199m, XAF Zone – $183m, and Ethiopia – $128m complete the list of top five countries where airlines are struggling to repatriate their funds.

” We are getting to a breaking point for Nigeria where airlines will drop off and not operate to Nigeria,” Kamil Alawadhi – Regional Vice-President, Africa and Middle East of IATA, told AviationGhana and selected African journalists during a press briefing at IATA office in Geneva, Switzerland.