If action is not taken to address the $790 million in ticket income that is now stuck in Nigeria, the International Air Transport Association has issued a warning to the Central Bank of Nigeria, threatening to force some foreign airlines to withdraw from the country’s aviation sector.

During the IATA Global Media Day in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, Kamil Alawadhi, the IATA Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, told African journalists that the airports in Lagos and Abuja were the most costly in the region despite their inadequate infrastructure.

While Ethiopia has mapped out a strategy to pay the debt, he said that Nigeria had yet to do anything on its own.

Al-Awadhi said, “Ethiopia is seeking a way to resolve this issue even though the blocked fund is rising. The first step for us to solve these blocked funds is for both parties to engage. If parties don’t engage, it is very difficult to move forward. I have not been able to engage with Nigeria’s CBN Governor. He said he would engage with me when he had a solution. He is not promising but I have engaged with the Aviation Minister who is very understanding, new to the position, or maybe wowed by the situation he inherited will help to resolve the matter.”

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