Stakeholders in aviation have thrown their weight behind the federal government’s unification of the forex on the premise that the decision will help improve the sector and erase the undue advantage few entrepreneurs have over others.

They also stated that through the development the remittances and foreign direct investments, particularly by foreign airlines, will experience an appreciable surge once the government sustains consistency in the unification policy.

While expressing optimism that the foreign exchange rate unification will positively impact the country’s growth, many of the stakeholders, though acknowledged that the implementation of the new policy may experience difficulty at the beginning, yet agreed that the government is on the right track with the decision.

Related Posts Sallah: Peter Obi doles out million of naira to Muslims in Anambra My life as table tennis national champion 50 years after —Waheed Ekun Why HIV is no longer a death sentence in Nigeria —NACA boss

Commenting on the policy, the Chairman of Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) PLC, Dr Taiwo Afolabi said that private investors would benefit more from the forex unification policy.

Afolabi, who also declared that apart from Nigeria, nowhere else in the world are there two exchange rates in the market, lamented how the non-unification of the forex had given the to some business organisations undue advantage.

While insisting that the present high forex would not affect businesses, but rather bring about reduction in customs duties, paid by private investors, Afolabihoweve assured that gradually all the challenges associated with the current decision of the government would ease, while normalcy would return to the economy.

“Once it is unified, you will find out that for us to go to foreign countries to buy our equipment, it will give us a kind of reduction in duties and the cost of whatever that we are going to buy will reduce. The opportunity to go to the same common market with others will also be there. The issue of N460 or N700 to a dollar that some people are taking undue advantage of will no longer be there.

“So, it gives us joy with what the new government is doing to support us and all investors. I believe this will allow other investors to come in as soon as things are changing and getting better.

“I don’t think the high forex will affect our business. With the policy of the government, all these challenges will go down. I still believe there are some speculators that are causing the current high exchange rate. At the end of the day, we will all smile home.”

Equally, the President of Aviation Round Table (ART), Elder Gabriel Olowo expressed confidence in the unification policy declaring that the ability of the government to sustain it would aid economic growth.

According to him, the forex unification would also resolve the blocked funds challenge, which the foreign airlines have been battling with in the past 18 months in the country.

 

While maintaining that the policy would enable the foreign airlines to repatriate their ticket sales funds out of the country with ease, Olowo emphasized the need for the government to merge the official rates with the black market rate in order to promote business and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Nigeria, stressing that the former system discouraged investments, while some were compelled to shut down operations.

His words: “We need to merge it so that we don’t have black, white, red, concession, favourites, presidential market rates and others. We have a singular rate. But, if you don’t remit the airlines’ remittance after two weeks or maximum one month when it falls due, it will begin to accumulate again.

“As it is now, exchange rate will not be stable, it will continue to fluctuate. Don’t forget the black market people are still in that market. They will do everything to make sure that it doesn’t work, but it has to work. Let’s have a single exchange rate.

“I am an economist and as an economist, you need to really study the areas of your production. Which area of my production is really generating forex exchange? Those sectors of the economy are the ones that will determine your exchange rate and exchange rate parity is key. It is not every business that is involved in foreign exchange. That parity is important, but the rate should not only be fixed, it must fluctuate with the reality on ground.

“Once we do that, then, we have no any other problem again. You can’t just hold it down with the guns like the former administration did. What President Bola Tinubu is doing right now with the unification of the foreign exchange is a step in the right direction.”

He however disagreed with the insinuation that the current situation would lead to low patronage of airlines by passengers and job losses in the sector, arguing that air travellers would still travel for either tourism, medical, sports or businesses even though airfares may go up in the naira value, but won’t affect the dollar value.

Olowo used the opportunity to blame the the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele for the freefall of naira against major currencies in recent years, saying that an economist, not a banker would have been able to manage the economy better.

“Look at Professor ChukwumaSoludo, he was an economist. He was able to balance the economy with Professor NgoziOkonjo-Iweala. That was the most successful regime. You need the regime of the economists and the bankers,” Olowo declared.

In his comment, another aviation analyst, Dr Alex Nwuba believed that the impact of the foreign exchange unification would lead to high airfares in the aviation sector’ adding that the policy would also lead to high inflation in the economy and job losses in the short term, but assured that the challenges would finally be surmounted.

“The impact on the aviation industry is clearly evident; fares will rise beyond the availability of an increasing number of people as incomes are not rising, with general inflation causing everything to go up in prices. When the price of food and gas rise, consumer priorities will change.

“However, this is a better loss to the economy than the fraud subsidy was. The saved funds will be better applied for the ultimate well-being of Nigerians.

“There will be initial job losses, but then ultimately, more people will be employed by an expanding industry, which, as we see, is growing. The improved economic outlook will stimulate expansion in the aviation industry, which will create even more jobs than we have today with better compensation.”

 

 

 

Copyright © 2022 Nigerian Tribune Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).