Airline operators in Nigeria to take advantage of FG’s forex concession, NCAA calls

The Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Usman Muhtar, has called on both foreign and indigenous airline operators to “carry out their operations with renewed vigour” as they take full advantage of government’s intervention in inter-bank forex concession.

According to him, “all problems associated with repatriation are now a foregone conclusion.” He said the laudable gesture provides a good opportunity all airlines to redeem their operations as they adhere strictly to the provisions of the Bilateral Air Services (BASA) with Nigeria.

It would be recalled that the Honourable Minister of State for Aviation, Honourable Hadi Sirika, secured a special sectorial allocation of forex for Airline Operators in the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) for Airline operators.

The motive is to further engender market confidence, ensure access to forex by the airlines and sustain the integrity of the Nigerian Inter-bank forex market.

Pursuant to the Minister’s show of concern, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resolved to intervene in the inter-bank forex market through forward settlement.

The Special Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) – Retail is an important one-off exercise dedicated to the clearance of the backlog of matured forex obligation for airlines.

It is however worthy to note that other sectors were similarly availed priority in the inter-bank forex market. These are Raw Materials and machineries for manufacturing companies and Agricultural chemicals.

Before the intervention, however, the NCAA boss had earlier led a delegation of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) to hold meetings with the Ministers of State for Aviation, Finance and their Petroleum counterparts including the CBN Governor.

As a result of the meeting, Honourable Sirika was able to extricate for the foreign airlines 50 per cent clearance of their forex obligations. This present success is another step ahead in seamless operations in the aviation industry.

It is expected that this is a major window for airlines like America’s United Airlines and Spanish Iberia, who had earlier ceased their operations in the country, to recommence in earnest.

The NCAA added that the intervention offers a landmark incentive for both local and foreign operators to carry out safe, secure and lucrative operations in Nigeria.

In addition, “all scheduled and mandatory checks which are done in the diaspora will be undertaken with this leverage at a reduced cost,” the NCAA said in a statement issued to aviation correspondents.