‘Govt’s inaction emboldens foreign airlines to keep exploiting Nigerian travellers’

President of National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Susan Akporiaye, in this interview with WOLE OYEBADE, reflects on the foreign airlines’ stuck fund crisis and attendant results on the international segment aviation in 2022. While lamenting the Nigerian market, which has turned exploitative and consumers unprotected, she warns that the downstream effects will persist until there is a sustainable solution to end the cycle.

From feedback, what was the experience of air travellers in 2022?
Year 2022 was full of a lot of ups and downs. It was the year travelling brought lots of pain for many, including parents that had to grudgingly pay so much for students going back to school, fresh students and others on essential travels. Travels were, as a matter of necessity, not leisure or holidays. There were no relatives traveling to see family members because it (ticket) was just too expensive for people to afford. So, for Nigeria, it was a lot of heartache, pains, disappointment, discouragement.
For the travel agencies, it was a year, where we did not make money, business was low, down and in the face of global recession, where inflation also spiked the cost of commodities. Well, we are in a New Year, we will always remain hopeful. Hope is the last thing to leave humans. We will keep hope alive and pray for a better industry and a better Nigeria 2023.
Stranded funds of the foreign airlines dominated the space for a better part of 2022.

How much effect did Central Bank’s intervention have in softening the hard stance of foreign airlines?
After our press conference in September 2022, the occasion created a stir and led to government’s engagement with airlines. That is what we have been asking for all along, and also, for government to give the balance of 50 per cent of CBN’s $265 million to the airlines. From what I heard, it has been paid. So, at that period, some airlines soft-pedaled a little, while some did not even bulge. Those that did, brought back a bit of lower inventories and business was a bit manageable that period.
But as we speak, it is back to the status quo. I think, now, it’s even worse as a matter of fact. For instance, the lower classes that were released then and travel agencies sold, are no longer available. That means if we are going to make changes, people have to pay as much as N1.7 million or N1.8 million per ticket that was earlier bought at N800, 000. When that initially happened, there was a system in place through which we could reach out to the airline but now that is no longer there.
In short, the report we got from the airline when we called them is that they are not allowed to make changes for travel agencies in Nigeria. They told us point blank to sell whatever it is we are seeing on the system. The implication is that somebody that initially issued a ticket of N800,000 will now have to pay N1.7 million to change that ticket. It is either you pay that or you forfeit your travel. That is where we are and it is so unfair on the part of the airline to us and the Nigerian public. Nigerians are the ones paying through their noses, just because they need to travel.

But flights are still filled?
Yes, Nigerians will always find a way and a lot of travellers have found alternatives. Quite a number of people have found out that it is cheaper if they get tickets from neighbouring countries or overseas. So, they are all making their own arrangements. Those tickets are not necessarily cheap in those countries, but more affordable because there are lower inventories over there, which we no longer have here, because of the stuck fund crisis. But they are boycotting travel agencies in Nigeria, which is totally unacceptable and unfair; something has to be done
That explains why the flights are still full, but most of those tickets are not issued by us anymore. Passengers are finding tickets by themselves; finding a way around it from neighbouring African countries just because they still have all their inventories. Here we only have the highest inventories and the difference is massive. There is no way in the world where the highest cost for any economic class ticket is above $1000 but in Nigeria it is $4000, that is just outrageous, so sad and exploitative. Those that don’t have the means to patronise neighbouring countries have to pay this amount, which is very exploitative and it’s not acceptable by us.

Are you disappointed that the authorities do not seem to be bothered by this crisis?
It is the most unfortunate in the entire development. Since late last year, things have gone very quiet on the part of the government. Nobody is talking anymore and everybody seems to have accepted it as normal and a reason for the operators to keep exploiting Nigerians. The only thing going on in the government space now is elections. That is why we have to find a way to fend for ourselves and fight for our rights in the face of being disappointed by our nation for its failure to defend the rights of Nigerians.

What should the government be doing differently?
Honestly, there is nothing much to expect from this current government. What we have seen is this particular trend happening every 10 years. Colleagues that have been in the sector for three decades affirmed to have witnessed such twice. It happens every eight to 10 years, especially around transition periods.
On what the government can do differently, unfortunately, the answer to that question is not a short term, but a long-term solution. We all know what the problem is; we spend more than we earn in Nigeria. We need a government that will take us out from a mono-economy to a multiple-earning economy. Our earnings in foreign reserves is only through crude oil; there is nothing else that we earn. We spend in foreign currency than we earn.
But we are optimistic that the present crisis will end, but the government should not just sit back and wait for another cycle of crisis to begin. Rather, they should start looking at how the economy of the nation can be diversified.
We keep singing that there is a goldmine in tourism, in travels and hospitality. We have evidence of countries that are earning good foreign exchange from tourism, even more than oil dependent economies. There should be right policies to also optimise that potential here. That is what the government should get done differently.