FG Settles $600m Debt To Foreign Airlines

Hadi Sirika

The Federal Government says it has finally cleared the backlog of debts owed foreign airlines operating in the country.

According to the government, the debt, which was about $600m at the peak of the recent recession, has been paid despite the paucity of funds confronting the nation at present.

It explained that the debt dragged on for a while because the country was faced with scarce foreign exchange occasioned by lower crude oil earnings, a development that prevented the international carriers from repatriating revenues to their respective home countries.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who described the settlement of the debt as one of the recent progress made in the aviation sector, observed that some foreign airlines had threatened to leave Nigeria if the government failed to clear the debt.

“We did the best that we can to clear the backlog of millions of dollars owed the foreign airlines,” an elated Sirika told delegates at the just concluded 4th Aviation Stakeholders’ Forum in Abuja.

In September last year, international carriers operating in Nigeria had confronted the Federal Government on issues concerning the full repatriation of their funds.


(PUNCH)




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