Obviously, Nigeria as a country is going through a myriad of crises. Every angle you turn to in Nigeria today, it is one problem or the other, thus depicting a scenario illustrated in one of the popular works of renowned poet, William Butler Yeats, which says, “Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer, things fall apart the center cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the land.”
This piece, written by W.B. Yeats perfectly fits into the situation unfolding in Nigeria presently with major focus on happenings within the country’s aviation sector.
Without sounding like an alarmist, the present happenings in the sector have gone to show the level of strong wind of confusion and uncertainty blowing over the sensitive sector and its subsequent negative consequences on the future of air transport within and outside the shores of the land.
While all is not well with the domestic air transport scene, a worst scenario is playing out on the foreign scene as tension continues to mount between the foreign airlines operating into Nigeria over their $600 million trapped funds.
As the issue of the trapped funds continues to take the center stage both in and out of Nigeria every day, with the different key players arguing for or against the circumstances surrounding the trapped funds, at any angle the different interest groups may be viewing this controversy from, one obvious fact is that there are two sides to an agreement.
In other words, when an agreement is signed between two or more persons, it becomes binding and hence, must be adhered to, devoid of any local, emotional or cheap politics.
This brings to the fore the ongoing back and forth body language of the Federal Government including its organs at the Ministries of Finance, Aviation and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regarding the $600 million trapped funds of the foreign airlines.
Before this issue finally exploded on the face of Nigeria, the foreign carriers had engaged the government on the need for them to repatriate the accumulated funds generated from the air transport services rendered to Nigerians without any concrete response coming from Nigeria.
Without any sentiment, what these airlines are demanding for falls within the agreement signed between their home countries and Nigeria which clearly stated that under no condition should the airlines be denied their rights to repatriate the money generated from the country in the course of the service they render.
Therefore, with this clause in the agreement signed by Nigeria and the foreign countries, it becomes binding on Nigeria to do the needful without foot-dragging any longer as failure to comply may have tagged Nigeria as a country without credibility.
The excuse of scarcity of forex and the notion that Nigeria is not the only country indebted to the foreign airlines is untenable and should not be pushed further by any reasonable and sincere group of people anywhere.
Even if Nigeria must owe the airlines, why must it be allowed to accumulate to that extent and even if genuinely the entire funds cannot be released at a go because of the global economic hardship, why is the principle of engagement missing as witnessed in the sickening silence of the government amidst this confusion?
What stops Nigeria from engaging the foreign airlines and even their home countries whom Nigeria have standing agreements with? Without doubt, the Federal Government has bungled this transparent opportunity and very soon the consequences would begin to manifest.
The rate at which the government is toying with this sensitive issue may soon boomerang on the entire system including innocent Nigerian investors whose images are being directly or indirectly rubbished by the government, as across the world now Nigeria has been labeled as a clime not conducive for investment on the premise that Nigerian government has penchant for dishonouring business agreements.
Therefore, the argument being churned out from some quarters that because the because foreign carriers do not pay royalties to Nigeria, they are not entitled to their trapped money is ‘watery’ in the sense that the foreign carriers did not force the Nigerian government to stop the collection of royalties.
This is a place where those responsible for protecting the economy of the country often, out of greed and corruption, choose to compromise as witnessed in the disadvantageous agreements they signed on behalf of the generality of Nigerians. When the consequences of such wicked acts begin to manifest, rather than blame the saboteurs, we come out to hold someone else responsible for the shenanigans.
The blame game on the foreign airlines’ trapped funds should stop as any attempt to drag this too far may pitch Nigeria and its millions of citizens including the business class against other parts of the globe in the areas of business partnerships.
and then