Aviation Expert and Deputy Secretary General of the Aviation Roundtable, Olumide Ohunayo, has called on the Federal Government to do something fast following the withdrawal of the Emirates Airlines from Nigeria indefinitely.
Mr Ohunayo who was on the TVC News Nigeria flagship Business Programme, Business Nigeria with Kelly Egiga, said the situation is unprecedented and called for concerted efforts to address the issue.
He said the decision of the Emirates Airlines, one of the richest Airlines in the World is an indication that no Arline wants to play with its revenue.
He added that the fact Emirates operates two flights into and outside Lagos daily and one into Abuja with some of the biggest planes in the business shows the level of revenue accruing from the operations.
He said the indefinite withdrawal from the Country shows that the Airline can no longer hide its pain from the continued inability to repatriate its profits from Nigeria.
He said Nigeria must not aspire to be in the same league as nations like Zimbabwe, Iran, Venezuela, Sri Lanka and Lebanon.
He added that all these nations are debtor nations who have failed overtime to repatriate profits of airlines to their countries.
He disclosed that Nigeria at over $700 Million now has the highest volume of trapped revenue belonging to foreign Airlines, describing it as dangerous and not good for the Aviation sector.
He urged the Federal Government to do something about the funds stating that the nomenclature of the funds, whether trapped, seized or Otherwise does not matter as long as the owners do not have access to it.
According to him the Federal Government should take another look at the Bilateral Air Services Agreement that governs the activities of operators in the Aviation sector, especially Airlines.
He posited that the only way the Federal Government can prevent or potentially reduce the issue of Capital Flight is to ensure Nigerian owned Airlines participate more in the Aviation Sector.
