By Dickson Omobola
The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agents, NANTA, has expressed sadness over the dollarisation of air tickets by some foreign airlines, describing the development as a direct affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty which could result in job losses.
President of NANTA, Mr Yinka Folami, who made the observation, said the practice undermined the naira, and noted that with improvements in market liquidity, the resolution of remittances and forex stabilisation, ticket sales in dollars should no longer be valid.
Folami, who spoke on Mainland FM 98.3, also lamented cross-border trading and described it as a sin against the Nigerian market.
His words: “Nigeria is the best travel market in Africa. There are over 30 airlines flying the Nigerian route, and more still want to come. We have some foreign airlines that do more than two frequencies from Lagos daily.
“It is important to us to protect that market. Cross-border trading is the biggest sin to this market. I do not believe that those who do it trade in tickets.
‘’We have a situation where a travel agent like myself sits in Asia or Europe, and he has better fares for Nigerian traffic, even though I am a practitioner in this market.
“Selling tickets in dollars is the most disrespectful thing that can happen to any sovereign country that has a good market. We also forget that we only trade in Naira as a means of exchange. The naira is also a store of the value of images of our heroes.
“There is no need for dollar sales only in this market. The naira is stabilising, and we must respect the Naira. The rates are closing up. There is liquidity and transparency.
‘’We are at the point where we should be congratulating the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and assisting government to support the naira.
“What we are asking for in the trade is that even when you want to sell in dollars, accommodate the naira because dollar only sales exclude 70 per cent of our practitioners.
‘’It is anti-competitive against the naira and the trade. We do not want situations where there are job losses.”
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