Nigeria aims to release all funds from foreign airlines' ticket sales - minister

Nigeria is aiming to release money from foreign airlines' ticket sales, held up by dollar shortages in the country, and has already started making some payments, Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika said on Thursday. Nigeria is facing severe dollar shortages, forcing many citizens and businesses to seek foreign exchange on the black market, where its naira currency has progressively weakened. The dollar shortages have made it difficult for some foreign airlines that sold tickets in the Nigerian naira to get their money out of the country. A spokesperson for the global airlines industry association IATA said last week that Nigeria was withholding $743m in revenue earned by international carriers operating in the country, the highest amount owed by any nation. Sirika did not provide a timeline for releasing the trapped funds. He said Qatar Airlines had $201m blocked while another $216m was owed to IATA airlines. "We are doing our best to get the monies released," Sirika told reporters in Abuja.<br/>