August 26, 2022

A new twist to the demand of foreign airlines operating in Nigeria for their $600 million trapped in the country’s foreign exchange sourcing difficulties seem to have emerged.

Foreign airlines collect naira for their tickets from customers and exchange same for foreign currencies for their operations. But recently they say they have been unable to get the exchange executed through the official foreign exchange market due to scarcity of foreign exchange resources.

but, the airline operators of Nigeria, AON, is now saying the money is not trapped, advising the foreign airlines to go to the parallel market to exchange their naira revenue.

AON says the foreign airlines’ demand is not legitimate, as that the central bank of Nigeria, CBN, should not be dragged into their plight, giving that there is also the option of investors and exchange foreign exchange, I&E FX window where they can access forex.