Foreign society has deceived $ 2 million aerial peace, says CEO Onyema …

The CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, narrated how his company has undergone a loss of $ 2 million for a leasing company based in Tunisia.

Wasiu Ayinde apologizes for the airport accident, says the ball contained only water

Onyema told this experience while talking to the 29th annual conference of the League of Airport and Aviation corresponding Thursday in Lagos.

The airline boss said that when this happened, he refused to pursue the case because at the time Nigeria was inserted in the black list for violation of the contract.

He said: “A foreign company frozen us $ 2 million. They told us that they wanted to buy parts of aircraft and needed a sum of $ 2 million.

“If I had prevented them from taking the money, Nigeria would have been further in the black list. What you will feel is that Nigerian airlines are not reliable.

“For the good of the aeronautical industry, I decided not to stop this transaction. The company took our money and never returned. They stole our $ 2 million.

“The Nigerian government got in touch with them. They said it was a matter of private business and they would see what they could do, and they escaped with those $ 2 million.”

He said that his decision not to pursue legal action was influenced by Nigeria’s unofficial black list at the time due to the previous violations of the aeronautical lease contracts by some local airlines.

“I won’t even come in because it is not totally fault of those airlines.

“You have to understand why they went to court. So you have to be careful to protect your country. You have to protect your flag. It was a sacrifice that we did for the good of other airlines in this country.

“If we had seized that money, we would not have been able to access dry lease opportunities, because it would have further aggravated the problems of the aviation sector,” he said.

He also highlighted the challenges of funding in the aviation sector, stating that banks in Nigeria are becoming more reluctant to lend due to problems of non -repair and lack of integrity.

“In Nigeria, the funding is very expensive with an interest rate of 35 % and it is not even available for everyone. People are also asked to bring guarantees almost impossible to obtain. We need banks but the conditions imposed are very far from being useful.

“The Nigerian aviation sector has started to be a little liberal, but you have to earn it,” he added.

Onyema appealed to the government to create a window for airlines to access the changes through the central bank of Nigeria or the bank of industry.

“Egypt did so. Some other countries did it. The good thing that this government has done for us is that it has made the exchange rates stable. You can plan now, which is a good thing for the aviation sector.

“However, at the central bank level, they can create a window for airlines to acquire dollars at a slightly cheaper rate, because we are operating from a disadvantaged position when we operate from Nigeria,” he said. [The Punch]

Related