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…Says dollar policy locks out 70% of ticket sellers
By Chinelo Obogo
The National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) has come down hard on foreign airlines for imposing $200,000 penalties on Nigerian travel agents, describing the action as unfair and crippling. The association also accused the carriers of hiding behind the Central Bank’s dollar policy to lock out over 70 per cent of local ticket sellers from the market.
The President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents, Yinka Folami, who raised the alarm over the penalties and fines imposed on Nigerian travel agents by airlines as a panelist on ‘Creative Naija Radio’s Live on Villa Square’ on Mainland FM, Lagos, said the action was unacceptable.
Folami explained that Airline Debit Memos (ADMs), penalties issued by airlines to travel agents, can sometimes arise from genuine infractions, noting that every operational system requires strict adherence to standards. He added that as industry leaders, they have a duty to continuously train, retrain, and guide their members to ensure compliance and professionalism.
He, however, said that there are penalties against Nigerian travel agents that have been as high as $200,000 even when in many cases, it was due to the inefficiencies of the airline.
“In my own very educated view, there are a lot of ADMs that are as a result of technological inefficiencies of airlines. I think those should be nipped. When I say technological inefficiencies, I know that a lot of airlines have gotten it right, so what is wrong with some others? There’s something called churning in our language. If you don’t want me to book Mr. A more than four times, on the fourth time, shut him out. It’s just like the password in your two-step authentication. If you do it three times and you don’t get the password right, you are shut out. It’s as simple as that. If some airlines can get it right, why are others not doing that?
“The second point is that we are putting this information forward to the government that we have had situations where ADMs have gone as high as $200,000 to a business. That is no longer a penalty; it is becoming a revenue stream. As an airline, you have to fix your system. However, I do not speak for genuine infractions, and that is why we train and retrain our members. But we believe that the government will intervene,” he said.
Also speaking on the continued use of dollars by some foreign airlines to sell tickets to Nigerians, he said: “On the issue of dollar sales, I will take a more positive approach that the outlook for Nigeria is stable, and so is the outlook for the naira. There is stability in the naira. The rates are closing between official and parallel forex rates. There is liquidity and transparency, and that’s key.
“The government will not come into your sector. They are responsible for macro. It is we, the industry players, that are the ones responsible to give life to whatever economic gains the government is making. And that is why we are pleading with some of these airlines, and we tell them that there is no need anymore to sell in dollars. Now, why am I emphatic about it? I don’t want us to mention airlines because it’s anti-competitive, and, you know, there are rules that guide us.
“Why is it a matter of concern for me if I say industry players should give life to government policies? We are 3,500 members in NANTA, and 70% of us are youths. So if the government is making gains at the macro level, how do we translate it to benefits? In our own sector, one of the ways, or the best way, to transfer it to benefits for Nigerians is if one young man or young woman can sell three tickets in a week, he or she is out of the poverty line.
“So I will look at dollar sales from that socioeconomic point of view, and I’ll tell you that dollar sales exclude 70% of our members that are NANTA- and IATA-certified from direct trade with these airlines. Let these people get the benefit. Let them trade directly with you, and when they do that, their transactions are cleaner. So it’s a responsibility for all industry players to make sure that the decisions and actions that we take align with the economic recovery process and direction of the government.”
