Buhari govt to punish foreign airlines selling tickets in dollars

The Federal Government has vowed to sanction 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 the Minister, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had been instructed to swing into action by protecting the interest of Nigerians against reported airlines’ operations malpractices, saying no violator, either high or mighty, would be spared if caught in violation.

Sirika revealed that intelligence reports indicated that some of the airlines are refusing naira and charging their ticket fares in dollars in violation of the nation’s laws, while some others have blocked local travel agencies from accessing their websites for transactions.

“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 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 on social media. They should go through diplomatic channels if they want a response from the Federal Government,” he warned.

The Minister noted that the foreign airlines have made over $1.1 billion from Nigeria since 2016, which could have been retained in the country if they were local airlines.

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.