The Federal Government has dismissed thre@ts by foreign airlines to suspend operations in Nigeria over their inability to repatriate their blocked forex from the country.
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The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, on Monday, said that Nigeria would fare better if foreign airlines boycott the country, as the government has developed the capacity to face the challenges. He said this in Abuja at the continued negotiations following the intervention of the House of Representatives in the conflict between the Nigerian Government and some operators under the International Air Transport Association.
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Mr Sirika said there were no grounds for the UAE to thre@ten Nigeria with the visa ban despite Nigeria failing to repatriate $700 million trapped funds of foreign airlines. “If you disagree, you are supposed to come to us, and we sit down, and we negotiate and give you what we have in the hope that we finish paying. What I have a problem with are the thre@ts.
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Every country would thre@ten Nigeria that they would not fly to Nigeria again, that would not give Nigeria visa. They would not do operations; they would shut Lagos and Abuja. Please, countries have been shut completely, and they did well.
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We are not afraid to be shut. It would make us do much better. It would make our schools and hospitals do better because necessity is the mother of invention,” Mr Sirika added.
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“We would begin to go to our own hospitals and our schools. When you stop coming to Nigeria, it does not make any sense. We are not threatened,” he insisted. “When you begin Nigeria, a 200 million market which you need, you do not have a case. And I have a problem with that. I have been doing everything to ensure this is paid. But you can only give what you have.”
Recall that recently, the UAE slammed a visa ban on Nigeria and 19 other African countries.
