Minister of State for Aviation, Capt. Hadi Sirika
Amid claims by the Federal Government that repatriation of trapped fund has started, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Wednesday, revealed that Foreign Airlines’ fund trapped in Nigeria has risen to $550million. Speaking when he paid a courtesy visit to the chairman, Aviation committee, House of Representatives, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji, the vice president for Africa and Middle East, IATA, Kamil Ala Wadhi, said the total trapped fund of airlines in Africa stands at $1.1 billion. LEADERSHIP reports that the House of Representatives leadership had in the heat of the crisis intervened by bringing the Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, and IATA representative including some of the affected foreign airlines to discuss the way forward. The intervention led to the phased remittances deployed by the CBN to gradually liquidate the backlog of the trapped funds. However, Alawahdi, acknowledged the interest shown by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and Nnaji towards finding solutions to the member airlines’ blocked funds in Nigeria. He disclosed that within his regions, a total of $ 1.1 billion of airlines’ funds are blocked and half of these funds while $550 million are held in Nigeria.
