The Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s major carrier, Mediew Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole has warned that if the value of the naira crashes further it would force airlines out of business and eventually kill the industry.
Bankole said that the devalue of the local currency few years ago, when it spiraled down to almost N500 per dollar and later firmed at N360 from about N195 per dollar, led to the current stagnation in the industry and also forced some airlines out of business.
He said that the reasons for this is because almost everything about airline business is imported apart from personnel, so huge amount of foreign exchange is needed to run airline business.
Bankole therefore urged the federal government to map out strategies that would prevent further crash of Naira against major currencies especially the dollar in order to save the nation’s airlines from total collapse.
Speaking at the weekend with journalists during the 2019 Quarterly Business Meeting (BBM), organised by the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI) in Lagos, Bankole, warned that any rise in the exchange rate again, would negatively affect the fortunes of the airline sub-sector in the country.
He stated that for instance the crash of naira led to the depletion in the fleet of Nigerian carriers, as maintenance cost increased, while spare parts became astronautically high.
So he advised government to introduce policies that would make naira stronger against foreign currencies especially the dollars, noting that with this, more businesses, including industries locally would spring up and provide jobs for the teeming population.
“As you are aware that before this administration came into being, Naira was N150 to a dollar and that was the target of everything we were doing, including leasing of aircraft and others, but, suddenly, it went to N500 and more. Then, a lot of challenges came in and you still have to pay your money back in the same value of the currency of which you took before.
“We are praying now that the exchange rate should go down and not increase as predicted by some people. This will create better life for Nigerians. What government should do today is to bring it back to the minimal level by which we can grow our economy. It should go back to N250 or maximum N280. This can be done gradually”, he said.
THISDAY
