IATA: Nigeria Makes “Significant Improvements” in Repatriating Airlines’ Funds
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has officially removed Nigeria from its list of countries with unrepatriated airline revenues, also known as blocked or trapped funds.
Kamil Al-Awadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice-President for Africa, Middle East, and Europe, announced during the association’s recent annual general meeting (AGM), praising Nigeria’s progress in repatriating airlines’ funds.
“Significant improvements have been made in Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia over the last year, with Nigeria no longer on the list of blocked funds countries,” Al-Awadhi said.
For years, Nigeria was among the top countries withholding international airlines’ revenue, largely due to chronic foreign exchange (FX) shortages. At its peak, the country was holding back an estimated $850 million in airline funds, prompting some carriers to halt operations and limit ticket sales in the Nigerian market.
However, a series of disbursements by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) — including a $265 million release in 2022 and an additional $61.64 million under the current administration — contributed to the resolution of the crisis. In March 2024, the CBN announced that it had cleared its FX backlog, with IATA later confirming that 98 percent of blocked funds had been repatriated.
Despite Nigeria’s improvement, IATA warned that the challenge persists elsewhere. “Mozambique is currently withholding the largest amount of blocked funds globally, followed by the XAF Zone… and Algeria and Lebanon,” Al-Awadhi said.
“We call on governments to prioritise aviation in the access to foreign exchange on the basis that air connectivity is a vital key economic catalyst for the country,” he added.
