Nigerian govt to sanction airlines selling tickets in dollars

The Federal Government has threatened to penalise international airlines who are selling flight tickets in dollars.

Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, revealed this on Wednesday when addressing journalists shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

Sirika claimed that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has gathered that some foreign airlines operating in Nigeria have begun selling tickets in dollars, violating extant local laws.

In August, the International Air Transportation Association revealed that as of July 2022, the Nigerian government has withheld a total of $464m in revenues belonging to foreign airlines, disallowing repatriation.

The amount emanates from ticket sale revenues that Nigeria is yet to remit to the airlines owing to FOREX scarcity.

But explaining the situation on Wednesday, the aviation minister said some of the airlines have resorted to banning local travel agencies from accessing their websites for ticket purchases.

He revealed that the NCAA will sanction airlines found guilty of such acts as it undermines the country’s laws.