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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government, on Wednesday, vowed to descend heavily on foreign airlines selling tickets to Nigerians, insisting that such practice is a violation of Nigerian laws.
Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, disclosed this to State House Correspondents after the week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at that Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to him, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had been instructed to swing into action by protecting the interest of Nigerians against reported airlines’ operations malpractices, warning that no violator, no matter how highly placed, would be spared if caught in violation.
According to him, findings at government’s disposal, revealed that some of the airlines are refusing naira and charging their ticket fares in dollars in violation of the country’s laws, while some others have blocked local travel agencies from accessing their websites for transactions, choosing to release expensive tickets.
“I want to use this opportunity to say that reports are reaching us that some of the airlines are refusing to sell tickets in naira. That is a violation of our of local laws, they will not be allowed. The high and the mighty amongst them will be sanctioned, if they’re caught doing that.
“NCAA had been directed to swing into action and once we find any airline violating this, we will definitely deal with them. Also, they blocked the travel agents from access. They also made only the expensive tickets available and so on so forth.
“Our regulators are not sleeping, we have a very vibrant Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Once they found any airline guilty, that airline will be dealt with because we need to protect our people. It is according to our agreements, to what we have signed and this is according to international convention.
“So going forward, they should desist from doing things that are outside of the law. They should also desist from writing us and putting things in social media. They should go through diplomatic channels if they want response from federal government”, he warned.
The Minister disclosed that the foreign airlines made over $1.1 billion from Nigeria in 2016, when the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration cleared the $600 million it inherited from previous government, saying if it was retained in the country through Nigerian official airline, it would have created jobs.
Sirika recalled that the airlines remitted over $600 million to their home countries in 2016 while over $265 million has also been released this year out of about $484 million due to them.
He said the government is trying to keep the airlines happy by ensuring that their money does not pile up again, saying that while the country needs their services, the airlines need the Nigerian market.
The Minister warned them to refrain from using the social media to press home their demands rather than resorting to the diplomatic channels.
Meanwhile, Sirika, has described as irresponsible, embarrassing and lies, a report in a national daily, (not Daily Sun), that the Federal Government Nigeria Air project setup has already gulped over N14.6 billion of government’s funds despite having only five per stake in the airline.
According to him that government has only spent N651 million (N352 million and N299 million) for what he called transactional advisory services approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), but yet to be disbursed as the consultants were yet to finish their work.
Details later…
