The house of representatives is scheduled to meet with
aviation stakeholders, including the International Air Transport Association
(IATA) over Emirates Airlines’ planned suspension of flight operations to
Nigeria.
On Thursday, Emirates Airlines said it would suspend its
flight operations to Nigeria starting from September 1, 2022, over its
inability to repatriate earnings in foreign exchange to the tune of $85 million
from Nigeria.
Nigeria is facing a forex exchange crisis and this has seen
the naira depreciate against the dollar.
In a tweet on Thursday, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) lamented the inability of foreign airlines to repatriate about $464 million in earnings due to the shortfall of foreign exchange (FX) and a dwindling reserve.
“IATA is disappointed
that the amount of airline money blocked from repatriation by the Nigerian
government grew to $464 million in July.” the tweet reads.
Consequently, in a statement issued on Friday, Yahaya
Danzaria, clerk to the House of Representatives, said the house was making
arrangements to meet with relevant stakeholders involved in the matter.
He said Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house, has
directed that a meeting with aviation stakeholders be scheduled to “find urgent
solutions” to the issue.
According to the statement, those invited to the meeting
include the minister of finance, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on ease of doing business,
minister for aviation, director-general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA), country representatives of IATA, and country manager of Emirate.
Others are chairpersons of the House of Representatives
committees on aviation, finance and banking and currency.
“The honourable speaker, house of representatives, rt. hon.
Femi Gbajabiamila and the leadership of the house of representatives have been
briefed on the disturbing notice of withdrawal of services recently issued by
some international airline operators in the country,” the statement reads.
“He has, therefore, requested the chairman house committee
on aviation (hon. Nnoli Nnaji) and house of representatives management to
immediately set a date for a meeting with all stakeholders in the aviation
sector and the executive arm of government to find urgent solutions to the
issues in contention.”
Danzaria said the date for the meeting will be fixed and
communicated to the invited stakeholders.
“The honourable
speaker requests all parties in the matter, and specifically, Emirates airlines
to suspend any action and await the outcome of the meeting,” he added.
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