The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday said the Federal Government is working out means to resolve the 464 million Dollars belonging to foreign airlines that is trapped in the country. The minister, who embarked on a tour of the new Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, said relevant authorities of the government have escalated action on the issue, assuring that soon the matter would be history. The declaration by Mohammed comes amid threats by some foreign carriers to either cut flight frequencies or suspend flights into the country.
United Arab Emirates, UAE, carrier Emirates Airlines had issued a notice of flight suspension from September one. Last week, the International Air Transport Association, IATA, slammed the Federal Government for holding over 464 million Dollars as proceeds of ticket sales by airlines operating into the country. Meanwhile, the minister, described the new terminal as one of the poster projects of the government in its critical infrastructure drive. He, however, clarified that a 500 million Dollars loan been secured from the Chinese Import Export Bank, for five airport terminals in Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano would be repaid as programmed.
