If you have travelled in the last nine months, you would have paid astronomical amount to do so, compared to times before then. The reason is simple, fares from and to Nigeria went up dramatically after foreign airlines could not repatriate their funds. At a point, it was estimated at about US $800 million. The consequences were that fares went up and Nigerians had to start paying their fares in US dollars. In some instances, Nigeria related fares went up by about 400% compared to similar journeys elsewhere. Foreign airlines, FMCGs, and other international companies are caught up in the inability of the CBN to meet their repatriation in the past. It is therefore a welcome development that the CBN is clearing these backlogs. It says it has recently paid foreign airlines over US $60 million and cleared about US $2 billion of outstanding backlogs. What is not clear yet is when Nigerians should expect to see lower fares and or comparison fares with many other distances as in the past. Globally, analysts expect fares to come down from their high levels since 2021 after Covid–19 induced bans on travels.
