Reprieve is coming the way of aviation industry that has been brought to its knees by the COVID 19 pandemic as the sector will be able to access a two-fold palliative from the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance and National Planning and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika broke this heartwarming news which he described as apt in Abuja yesterday while addressing aviation sector stakeholders.
“There are funds that we are organising through the CBN and that one is not for airlines alone. It is for the aviation industry which includes travel agents, ground handling, catering, and of course, the agencies. So, the palliative is total. We are organising with CBN and it has been approved. People will apply for loan and the loan will be at five percent from 2021. So, there is a template on how much they will apply for each business in aviation. So, everybody involved in the air economy is being looked out for in this palliative” he disclosed.
He explained the second form of palliative would be from the federal government through the Ministry of Finance and National Planning but this is still being worked out and the details would be made known soon.
In a related development, the Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu, revealed that the agency lost ninety percent of its revenue to the Coronavirus pandemic.
He made this disclosure at a forum organized by the NCAA where the readiness of each of the stakeholders in the aviation industry and value chain was disclosed.
“We (NCAA) have lost over 90 percent of our revenue in the last three months or so. We are operating basically on our reserve, which is about to run out” he said.