Following the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it had concluded payment of trapped funds to foreign airlines, representatives of foreign airlines in Nigeria have asked the government to effect payment in line with the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA).

The apex bank had said it had cleared the backlog with the payment of an additional $64.44 million to concerned airlines.

It said the development had brought the total verified amount paid to the air transport sector to $136.73 million, adding that “all the verified airline claims had now been cleared.”

However, the foreign airlines are still insisting that they still have an outstanding of about $700 million.

National President of Foreign Airlines and their representative in Nigeria, Dr Kingsley Nwokoma, in a phone interview, maintained that CBN had only paid $136 million out of the $800 million trapped funds to them.

He said the government signed a BASA and Bilateral Trade Agreement (BATA) with the airlines, which allowed them to sell air tickets in Naira and repatriate the money to their countries at a foreign exchange rate determined by the CBN.

Nwokoma clarified that most services in the aviation industry from landing to parking to catering services among other charges have been dollarised.

While noting that Emirates, Etihad have stopped operations in the country, he added: “We hope we don’t get to that extent, but we all know that businesses can fold up if they do not make profits.”