Dr. Gabriel Olowo, president of the Aviation Roundtable and Safety Initiative, yesterday urged Mr. Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to take into account a barter agreement with nations whose airlines’ cash are locked in Nigeria.
His statement comes in response to the rising amount of blocked money, which are the earnings from international airlines’ ticket sales and which the International Air Transport Association (IATA) projected to be $810 million, with Nigeria leading the list of nations with blocked cash.
Even as pressure on the CBN to release the retained monies in accordance with the bilateral air service agreements (BASAs) with those nations continues to intensify, the sums have increased since last year.
The ART President thinks a barter agreement will save Nigeria from embarrassment due to the lack of foreign currency needed to clear the payments. He said the CBN can consider this arrangement in order to resolve the remittance crisis with the foreign airlines.