The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies plans to engage in discussions with representatives from Emirates regarding the airline’s recent decision to sell tickets in dollars to Nigerian customers.
The former President of NANTA, Susan Akpdoriaye, articulated her concerns regarding the situation, stating, “Emirates cannot come out in the open and say they want to sell in dollars without authorisation. They will be sanctioned. Transactions in Nigeria should be done in our local currency; that is the law.”
“When we heard Emirates was selling in dollars, the new president and his team visited Emirates and said Nigerian law does not allow you to do this. But lo and behold, the government permitted them.
“They sent emails to all their issuing agents and I got mine and when I got my mail, I called and asked why this was happening and this was the response I got.
“Part of the condition the airline gave was to sell in dollars, and we were told that the government agreed. Are we taking five steps forward and 10 steps backwards? And what they have done is put fresh demand on the dollar,”
“We, the excos, have decided that we are going to engage further, that even if they want to sell in dollars, they should still give the option of naira.
“Apart from that, selling in dollars will exclude 70 per cent of some of our members in business, and that is not good for us. So we will present our case to them and present some of our ideas, and some of the ideas we are presenting to them is that even if they want to restrict the naira, they should at least not close it.”
Yinka Folami, the President of NANTA, expressed concerns regarding the lack of clarity in the current practices of Emirates.
He said, “They have started to publish some fares; they have not started operations, but they are just forward selling.
“It is not a norm that they should be selling in dollars. So what we are trying to do is confirm from them. Everything they are doing suggests that they will sell in dollars. So we are trying to reconfirm from them what it’ll be exactly. That’s the conversation we are having with them now.”
