The Federal Government revealed yesterday that it was now working with the appropriate authorities to guarantee that over $600 million in foreign airline money that had been stranded were freed. This comes as the nation's aviation sector continues to face issues.
Airlines and the Central Bank of Nigeria, or CBN, are a few examples of the key authorities.
Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, said this while giving a tour of terminal two of Lagos's brand-new Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
One of five airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Enugu that benefited from the $500 million financing agreement between Nigeria and China for the construction of four new terminals is the terminal, which is believed to be worth over $150 million. To complete the project, the Federal Government also committed a $100 million counterpart money in 2013.
The new terminal, which is situated on a plot of land that is roughly 56,000 square metres in size and contains 66 check-in desks, has the capacity to handle 14 million people annually.
The Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, also claimed that the terminal produces over $500,000 per month in funds from visas issued upon arrival, or VoA.
However, in response to inquiries regarding the foreign airlines stuck fund, the minister stated that the pertinent authorities were putting a lot of effort into the problem.
He added that the new International Terminal 2 at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport was created to complement, not replace, Terminal 1.
Mohammed noted that one of the things the terminal manager told him was that not only was the airport in use but that passengers could also board their flights and check-in here.
“You can arrive in one terminal and pick your luggage in another and this has taken care of the issue of interface between the two terminals.
“So we need to test-run and be extremely certain that every equipment is working optimally. The beauty of it is that this airport has become operational. You can come in here and continue to various parts of the world.”
On repayment of the loan, the minister said: “When loans are used and invested in infrastructure such as this, then it means the loans are wisely used.
“The major problem is that the tax to Gross Domestic Product, GDP, ratio is so low because most Nigerians do not pay tax. So I want to appeal to Nigerians to help government in paying their taxes, then there will be reduction in deficit that we are experiencing.”
The NIS, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Comptroller, Adeola Adesokan, stated that the service generates over $500,000 monthly on VoA.
She said: “It takes 10 minutes to process visa here. The prices tarry with country. For United States, it cost $254 for visa.
“Over 146 passengers pass through this terminal daily either from business meetings or negotiations. There is a lot of opportunities here in this country, we just need to encourage investors.”
Meanwhile, there were allegations that the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, was not respecting agreements and that had led to investors shunning the country’s aviation sector.
But, Managing Director, FAAN, Rabiu Yadudu, who noted that the report was not true, said: “The issue of FAAN not respecting agreements is not true. An example is FAAN has millions of agreements across Nigeria over the years.
‘’We may have problem with one or two, so it will be very unfair to define FAAN by just one or two agreements.
Also, Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Musa Bubu, denied that it had authorised charge increment on airlines operations.
He stated: “As the DG NCAA, I am not aware and I have not authorised any charge increase. Misinformation is creating a lot of problems. The truth of the matter is that the last time NCAA increased its charges was 10 years ago.