Some stakeholders in the aviation sector say the stoppage of the forex sale to the Bureau De Change operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria may take a toll on airlines while others think the policy was good for the sector.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had recently announced that the apex had stopped the sale of forex through BDCs.
The Managing Partner of Aglow Aviation Support Services Limited, Tayo Ojuri, in an interview with our correspondent, said that stakeholders had had issues with accessing forex through the CBN.
He said, “We have had challenges with raising forex through the Central Bank with our aviation needs. We have been going to the black markets to source for funding.
“With the restriction of sales to BDCs by the CBN, the dollar cost will increase as we have seen and it will affect the cost of operations for all domestic airlines.
“And even for international airlines, we are still battling with the challenges of remitting funds for tickets sold in Nigeria.
“We are going to have an increase in ticket prices emanating from Nigeria.”
Ojuri, however, noted that there were ways to mitigate the impact on domestic airlines.
According to him, domestic airlines could partner with international airlines to ease the burden on training and other essentials.
He said, “The solution is being able to partner with international airlines. This will enable us to tap the economy of scale whereby the international airlines are able to pump forex into domestic operations, and then reduce the cost of operations and training.
“Once you have a technical partnership with foreign airlines, the training part of it will be taken care of abroad. That will relax the pressure of the dollar on the airlines.
“Also, being able to ensure the processes of having a preferential rate through the government in the normal NAFEX window will help the domestic airlines.”
The spokesperson for Dana Airlines, Kingsley Ezenwa, said, “We have always engaged the CBN and the government particularly on the need to support airlines with the forex window.
“What we are asking for is that the window of forex to airlines is constantly available so that it can help our business. Everything is done in dollars. We buy, maintain and pay in dollars, but earn in naira.
“For now, it is not going to have any immediate impact on us, but we will continue to engage the CBN.
“If the window is created and is consistently accessible to airlines, it is going to help us.”
A member of the Aviation Round Table, Olumide Ohunayo, said, “The problem in Nigeria would always be implementation.
“I totally support the CBN on taking the forex from the BDCs. It is really ungodly to be taking N390 from the CBN and selling for N500. It is a good policy from the CBN, but the problem is how will the CBN be able to monitor the implementation?
“With the stoppage of the forex to BDCs, airlines engineering companies, maintenance, repair, and others in the aviation value chain can now deal directly with the banks and get their money.”
He added that the new direction would be good for the industry, especially if the CBN implemented a special forex window for aviation.
