Emirates suspends all flights to Nigeria over funding dispute

Emirates said: “Emirates has tried every avenue to meet our ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria, and has made great efforts to initiate a dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention to help find a viable solution. It is unfortunate that no progress has been made.” a statement.

Currency in free fall

Serica told CNN that the withheld funds would be released as this was not the first time Nigeria had held huge amounts of revenue belonging to foreign airlines.

“In the past, Nigeria has shown the ability, willingness and fairness to solve this kind of problem. It happened when we took power in 2015: there was a lot of money withheld, about $600 million at the time. It was in that was in,” Serica told CNN on Thursday. “At a time when the country was in a recession and there were dwindling revenue coming into the country, but we made good on our commitment to pay all that withheld money.”

“Unfortunately, due to many factors and reasons, funds have accumulated in reserve. The government is working hard to ensure that these funds are released, not only for Emirates Airlines but for all affected airlines,” Serica added.

“Mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that this does not happen in the future,” Serica added.

Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest markets for international airlines.