The Senate has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to urge the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to release blocked funds belonging to Nigerian airlines.
The proposal came after Senator Bala Na’allah tabled a resolution during plenary session on Wednesday about airlines’ inability to repatriate funds from Nigeria to finance their operations.
According to Na’allah, the consequences of these blocked funds are that cheap tickets are not available in Nigeria.
The reason, he said, was that taxes and inflation would have eroded the profit when the funds are kept for a long time, thereby making tickets very expensive.
The senator explained that another dire consequence of the inability of airlines to repatriate their monies was that airlines were folding and relocating to neighbouring countries, further worsening unemployment in the country.